Crossroads
by gyikhu
Summary: What if Lara is only one step away from getting what she always wanted but the competition is faster this time? Can she still get back what is hers? – to all the action fans out there. Enjoy reading!
1. Chapter 1

**This was one of my first stories ever, and as I really liked the pairing of Lara and Nate, I decided to re-edit the story. I hope to have a better language and a better style now, so it will be more enjoyable to read. **

**The first chapter is ready, and I hope to have all chapter re-written sooner or later. We'll see if I manage :)**

**As always, even if this is old, I'm happy about any comments and reviews, and keep reading, folks! :)**

* * *

Lady Lara Croft was utterly bored. So bored that she was completely clueless how to get through the day. At the moment she was lying on the sofa in her study, stretching her long legs all over it, and killed the time by watching a fly that was circling around the lamp above her head. Keeping her eyes on the small, flying animal felt like the only reasonable activity. Months had passed since Lara returned from Mexico where her last adventure had brought her, and the days had been becoming more and more boring. That time she'd been full of energy, full of willingness to discover something new, she'd spent hours and days with research and workout, but as the weeks were passing, her enthusiasm declined sharply. There was not a single task that aroused her interest, there were no new challenges. So watching the fly felt like a good alternative. Her days had become dull, senseless, and in vain had Hilary and Bryce tried to convince her to engage herself in some meaningful activity. Why wasting time and energy on something that did not interest her anyway?

After, to her biggest annoyance, she lost sight of the fly, Lara reluctantly sat up, placed her feet on the floor, and convinced herself to walk downstairs. Her bare feet made no noise as she was descending the stairs, even slower than usually. Total silence filled the manor, as if even her employees had been avoiding her. Although Lara was not in a bad mood, just bored to death. Next to the entrance, the day's post was lying on a small table, together with the current edition of the London Times. Lara picked up the envelopes, and without any sincere interest, she browsed them. Actually she absolutely did not care what was in them. Maybe, secretly, she was hoping that some exciting new job offer would arrive to find a long-lost, dangerous object, but of course nothing like this happened. Besides the continuous attempts to convince her to yet another credit card, or to sell her one more massage seat, she found nothing of importance. Bills, commercials, useless advertisements. She threw them back to the table, and her ultimate boredom made her pick up the newspaper instead. What the hell, she thought, walking over to the living room. She plopped down to the sofa, her eyes scanning the headlines. Not that she was interested in politics or economy anyway. She yawned, not even trying to hide it. Turning the pages, the ads caught her eyes that she'd never cared about before. Dating ads, what nonsense, she thought, but despite all this, she started to read them. _Handsome male in his fifties is looking for a slim lady to spice up life together_, she read one ad aloud, laughing. In her mind's eye, the handsome male in his fifties appeared, probably some boring bank employee with a regular salary no one usually paid attention to. Suddenly the idea crossed her mind what she would write in such an ad. _Treasure hunter bored to death is looking for someone who has some life-threatening adventure to share? Anyone, really_. There would be an awful lot of candidates, she smiled to herself. Slowly she would have been willing to accept just about anything to get out of this boredom that filled her days. As she put down the newspaper, faint knocking was coming from the direction of the door, and Hilary came in with a tray in his hands, a cup of tea sitting on it.

"The tea, M'lady." He put it down in front of her. Lara did not even notice that the whole afternoon passed by. What the hell had she been doing all day? She could still account for the hours she'd spent with watching the fly, but before that? She had no idea anymore. Thinking about it, she felt that the current situation had to be changed very quickly if she did not want to sink into absolute apathy.

"Thank you, Hilary," Lara said, helpless staring at the tea cup in front of her, not even sure if she realized what it was.

"Don't worry, Lady Croft. There will soon be some challenges to occupy yourself with," Hilary tried to divert her attention.

"I really don't understand what's happening. It never occurred before that absolutely nothing came up. Are there no more tombs to find?" Lara asked her butler in despair, looking at him with big, hazel eyes. Hilary smiled sympathetically. On the one hand he worried about Lara, not willing her to get accustomed to this inactive state, on the other hand the look on her face amused him a little bit. Lara seemed so helpless now that she was not facing deadly traps every day, and Hilary found it charming. He was more than certain that this was not going to last long. It was just a matter of time that Lara would again indulge herself in something extremely dangerous.

:::

Bryce was sitting at his computer as always, staring resolutely at the monitor. Not being able to bear seeing Lara drag herself from one room to the other for several weeks now, he was determined to find some suitable challenge for her. But it was not as easy as he had thought. Bryce had his own methods that were not all entirely legal, but information like that was hard to get. It was not like calling the tourist information if they had any new tombs to raid. All these years, Lara had never asked where his data came from. A kind of tacit agreement was made between them. Lara did not mind where the information originated from, and Bryce shut his eyes to how she obtained the artifacts. The result was what counted. Or for Lara the challenge and the adventure.

Bryce scanned every source he knew or had used in the past. Properly disguised, he entered servers of museums and universities, and reviewed the latest results of researches running. After several hours of fruitless searching, he stumbled upon something. Two small words that caught his eyes on the screen, and he abruptly stopped scrolling. Chagatai's eyes. He frowned for a moment. That name… where had he heard that before? No matter how hard he tried, he could not figure it out, but for an inexplicable reason he felt that it was important. So he went for Google, and realized the meaning of it right after looking at the first hit on the list. He jumped from the chair as if being yelled at, and ran out of the tech-room. Lara would just love that, he thought grinning…

:::

Bryce more or less fell through the door of the living room where Lara was sitting, helplessly looking at her butler who had failed to answer the question whether there were still any more tombs Lara had not found yet. The fact that Bryce had just run into the room without even knocking, out of breath, surprised her a little bit, but was not enough to agitate her.

"Lara, I think I've found something… all I say is Chagatai's eyes," he finally blurted out, panting.

As she heard the name, Lara immediately raised her head, looking at him in astonishment. Hilary understood nothing. While working for Lara, he had also gained quite a broad historical knowledge, but this name said nothing to him. On the contrary, it seemed to say a lot to Lara.

"Are you sure? What did you find?" Lara jumped up from the sofa. Almost at once she was completely transformed, the hopeless boredom vanished from her eyes, and an exciting shine took its place. This had always been the sure sign that something exciting and dangerous was in sight. The tea was left behind on the table while all three of them hurried over to the tech room, to Bryce's headquarters.

"I was just looking around on a server of Harvard University when I glimpsed the name," Bryce explained with an innocent face. He clicked around, bringing the document back to the screen.

Lara's eyes skimmed the text, quickly reading it through to find what she needed to know. "So they've found them. Unbelievable," Lara whispered, mesmerized by the words on the monitor. "As I see, our colleagues have no idea about the importance of their found," she added with more and more enthusiasm as she read on. "But all the better. We'll have time to get it for ourselves." Lara straightened up, obviously excited by the developments. She quickly walked over to the shelves, grabbing the leather folder she used for her notes. Over the years, she'd devoted a lot of time to solve this riddle, but to her biggest regret, she'd never come closer to the solution. This new data might have just changed everything. Hilary was still standing at the entrance, face incredulous, watching the two of them work in sync. Even if he had no clue what was going on, he was happy to see that Lara was back to her usual self, studying her notes eagerly.

"Here it is," Lara spoke again. "I've always known that Chagatai's hiding what I've been looking for so long."

The two men looked at her with an expression now that made Lara smile. She stopped, moving her stare back and forth between them.

"Let me explain a little bit." She went over to the desk, put her papers down. "For years I've been trying to decipher where Temüjin's tomb is. Of course it's full of gold and incredible treasures, but most importantly no one's ever found it. I want to be the one," she sent them her usual, determined glace, then went on. "It's only known that he was buried under great secrecy, and everyone who knew about the location of the tomb was killed. The anonymous thousand. That's how they called the nearly thousand people who participated in the construction of the burial place, and then were murdered without exception. One of them, however, according to the legend, wrote a diary about the works, describing everything important. Meaning the location of course." Lara was strolling up and down the room as she told the story, hardly able to believe that the day had come when she would finally discover it. "Unfortunately he was caught and executed before he could hide the diary. Everyone thought that the description was destroyed. I spent countless days and months researching before I found out that it got into the hands of Chagatai." Lara let out a small breath, remembering the day she'd realized it. "You can imagine how happy I was. My happiness didn't last long tough, because Chagatai's tomb is impossible to enter without having the eyes. Chagatai's eyes are two stone spheres," she quickly added, seeing Hilary's confusion. "I've been searching for them ever since without any success. They just disappeared without any trace. There were so few who knew about their existence that they were hardly documented. All I could find out is that Chagatai ordered his men to hide the eyes somewhere in the world after his death. They could be anywhere." Lara stopped strolling as if coming back from her memories. "But now, my friends, we know where they are, and I'll get them. When I have them in my hands, no one can stop me from solving Temüjin's secret."

"This Temüjin must have been a very important person. It's very interesting though that I've never heard of him before. It seems that I still need to broaden my knowledge," Hilary confessed.

"I'm very sure you've heard of him, but maybe not under this name," Lara smiled a knowing smile, picking up her notes again. "Does it sound more familiar if I say Genghis Khan?"

Hilary raised his brows in surprise, nodding in astonishment. Of course he knew that name. Who didn't?

"Now I understand why everyone wants to find his grave."

"Chagatai was Genghis Khan's son, who led the constructions of the tomb after his father's death. I know where Chagatai's tomb is, but couldn't get in without the eyes," Lara continued the story. "I want that diary so badly, and this is the only place it can be."

"But now that the eyes are found, Chagatai's tomb and the diary will be revealed as well," Hilary pointed out very logically.

"I don't think so," Lara opposed. "The description is not that simple. The document Bryce found describes the happenings as a travel diary. Look here," she tapped a finger on the screen. "Chagatai's eyes then glimpsed places no one has seen before… and so on," she read the text aloud. "Our colleague here seems to research how Chagatai got to see those places. Very few people know that the actual eyes are two stone objects. Even for me it took year to find out. So far this document has not been associated with either the diary, not with Chagatai's grave, not to mention Genghis Khan. So I'll use the chance and take the glory for myself."

"It's only natural that you will, Lady Croft," Hilary assured her with a smile.

"Let's get to work. There's still a lot to do in very little time," Lara said happily. The two men exchanged glances, pleased to see that she was finally back to her old self. Spirited, professional and brilliant.

:::

The helicopter approached the ground, but did not touch down. Lara descended the ladder, and then jumped to the clearing. When she waved to the pilot, the machine slowly moved away, leaving her all alone in the wilderness that calmed down again when the machine left. She quickly looked around, seeing jungle around her in every direction. Well then, she thought, adjusting the holsters on the thighs, and tightening the ponytail her hair was caught in.

"The place with the fist eye should not be far from here," she said into the headset in her ear, while typing the coordinates into her GPS.

"No, you only have to go about a mile to the west," Bryce replied.

Lara quickly strode to the specified direction, clearing the thick undergrowth out of the way with her arms. It was unbelievable that the first eyes had gotten so far away from Mongolia, but the document was very clear about its location. Apparently, the Mongolians had not left it to fate, and brought the eye as far from the tomb as they could. Lara would have never guessed to come to Thailand for it. As she kept moving, slowly an ancient stone structure revealed in front of her eyes. From the outside it was very dilapidated. Huge stones were lying around, the jungle slowly taking possession of them. The green crawled all over the rocks, embracing them, hiding them from the untrained eyes. Lara watched the scene with admiration, always fascinated by such miracles of history. Cautiously, she ventured closer, searching for the entrance that was probably overgrown by the vegetation over the time. Lara needed about fifteen minutes to discover the barely three feet high hole that led into the structure.

"Let's get this over with," she muttered, then crawled into the shaft. As she went on, the hole widened into a corridor so she could finally stand up again. Her hand slipped to the hilt of her gun as she moved farther down the dark passage. Fastening the flashlight to the strap of her backpack, she moved on, trying to avoid running into any traps.

"Just be careful," she heard Bryce's anxious voice in her ear. Lara rolled her eyes in slight irritation. As if it had been the first time she entered a place like this. But Bryce had always been far too cautious. As she proceeded, a wide gap closed the way, its bottom disappearing in the darkness, only the tips of some sharp spears could be seen. After a few moments of careful consideration, Lara took a few steps back, then ran and jumped over to the other side. That wasn't very hard to beat, she thought to herself when she heard the faint rustling sound that was coming closer and closer. The beam of her flashlight glinted on two giant blades that were rushing toward her, coming out of the walls on both sides of the passage. Lara only had time to bit back a curse. She hurled forward, her slim body graciously jumping through between the two blades. The huge metal blades whizzed over and under her, she could feel the air whoosh on her skin, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Although she landed safe on the ground, the danger was not gone yet. Reaching the edge of the gap, the blades changed direction, speeding toward her again.

"What the…," Lara said, spinning on her heels. She ran down the corridor, as fast as she could, not even caring where she went. The blades were chasing her, leaving her no chance to escape.

"Lara, look out," Bryce was yelling in her ear, but it was too late. Lara felt the ground move out from beneath her feet. Fleeing from the blades she had not realized that she stepped on a steep slope, and now she was unstoppable slipping down into the nothingness. Trying to balance so she did not fall, Lara quickly made a decision. Before she fell into the crevice at the end of the slope, she jumped, hurled forward, reached out her hand, and in the very last moment she grabbed a protruding stone on the wall opposite her. Propping her feet, she caught her breath, moving the lamp around to see where she had landed.

"You're okay?" she heard Bryce's voice again.

"Yes, sure. Just a little uncomfortable here," Lara joked, seeing that the corridor continued on the left, following an L shape. The abyss under her seemed bottomless. "I don't think I want to know what's down there," she commented, trying to climb a bit farther to the left, but the stones under her feel started to tremble in a threatening way.

"Get the hell out of there," Bryce suggested, seeing her situation through the camera.

"Working on it, believe me." Lara propped her feet again, holding herself with one arm. Before the stones collapsed, she shot out the grapple that was fixed on her belt, and swung across the black gap, landing deftly on the other side of the passage that led farther into the ancient structure. For a moment Lara stopped to draw in a breath, then let it out again. Missing a few weeks in her training was clearly noticeable. She glanced back once more to the abyss, then shrugged, and continued her way.

As she ambled down the corridor, it was the first occasion she had some time to look around. Taking the small video camera, she recorded the passage, pointing it all over the thick walls around her. Just as a good archeologist would do. The walls were made of huge stones, but no ornamentation or text was to be seen on them. Lara continued her way inside, illuminating the dark corners with her flashlight. She stopped in her tracks when she heard something again. Speedy, rustling sound of small wings. Lara put her hand in front of her face when the swarm of bats stormed out of the next room, bumping blindly into her after the light woke them up.

"Damn it," she cursed, shaking off the last small animal that got caught in her hair.

"God, I hate those things," Bryce commented in disgust.

"Then good that it's not you meeting them," Lara tossed back, walking into the room she'd been looking for. "Beautiful," she muttered, venturing more inside. Huge stone blocks were lying around, green covering them just like outside. Giant columns supported the high ceiling. All around, Lara saw several openings on different levels that led into the room. "I hope I took the worst one," she muttered, but could not get enough of the view. Through cracks the sun was shining in, leaving beams of light behind that cut through the air like rays she could actually touch. "Do you get this, Bryce?" she asked in a solemn voice, walking around with the camera.

"Loud and clear," he answered. "Everything is really beautiful. I've never seen so many nice ruins," he continued in sarcasm. "Would you walk to the platform now, take the eye and get the hell out of there before the whole places collapses?"

"Patience, my friend. It held up so far, it won't collapse now either," Lara answered calmly, studying everything in detail.

But then her curiosity won, so she put the camera away, leaving only her headset transmit the picture to Bryce. Her stare fixed on the platform in the middle, the first eyes standing on the middle of it. The temptation was huge, but Lara resisted, only approaching it slowly to see if there were any traps. She was about three feet away from it, three feet away from reaching what she'd been longing for years. For a moment she hesitated, fearing there was a hidden mechanism somewhere in the platform, so she gave it another thorough glance. At first sight, the eye seemed anything but important. It was a nicely carved and polished stone sphere with no special feature, but Lara looked at it as if it was the world's most beautiful diamond. Mesmerized by its simplicity, she reached out to touch it. She was so absorbed in the discovery that she only realized the movement from the corner of her eyes. Somewhere above her, in one of the other openings that led into the room. Though before she could even grasp what was happening, someone swung across the room, whooshing in front of her with such speed that Lara could only blink. When she looked at the platform again, the eye was gone.

"What the hell?" she said, almost simultaneously with Bryce. Footsteps were approaching from every side. A lot of footsteps. Lara had as much time as to hide behind a column when two groups of mercenaries swarmed into the ancient room.


	2. Chapter 2

Lara already had her hands on the hilt of her pistols when she felt a slight tremor under her feet. It was as if an earthquake had been emerging. The soldiers began to increasingly panic as they struggled to keep their balance.

"I think it is time for me to leave this place." – Lara concluded. She did not wait for Bryce to agree but immediately ran towards the corridor where most of the light came out. There was not much time left before the several hundred-year-old stones buried everything under themselves. The survival instinct even made her forget it for a while that she had just lost the first stone, which she came here for. There would be time to think about this when she had got out of this death trap. She threw a brief glance back into the room before it vanished from her sight. In the confusion the mercenaries even seemed to have forgotten to try to escape. The first tiles from the ceiling began to fall, a large piece submerged a soldier, the others jumped to the side scarcely. Keeping their weapons to the target they tried to move towards one of the corridor, as if this could have defended them against anything in the current situation. Lara did not deal any further with them, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She could only hope that she would not run into yet another deadly trap that she would not have time to avoid. With slight fear in her eyes she was watching the ceiling, from where more and more stones were falling down, not once blocking the way ahead. Lara jumped to the side in the very last moment right before a big rock would have hit her. Meanwhile, it was increasingly difficult to stay on her feet, the whole building was shaking terribly. She suddenly saw the light at the end of the corridor. Only hundred feet separated her from the safe side, it further encouraged her to escape. Bryce held back his breath as he watched the scene through Lara's camera. Not daring to speak even his usual 'Lara, look out' comments were missing. The woman just reached the end of the tunnel, jumped and almost flew out of the hole, which was already half blocked by stones. Not even three seconds had elapsed when the exit was blocked permanently. Lara saw that most of the entrance ended with a similar fate. Almost certainly the soldiers had no chance to escape. For a moment she took a deep breath kneeling on the ground. She got up and dusted herself off.

"Well, this was a nice little adventure." – she said. Bryce was still almost speechless of fear.

"I can imagine better things to do. Are you okay?" – he asked her.

"Sure." – Lara said as if nothing had happened. Bryce always admired how she could stay so calm when she just nearly escaped sure death. "Send me the helicopter and immediately find out, who the hell this guy was who stole the eye from me. He will not get away with it. I will be in the motel in about an hour, analyse the recording till then and find out everything about him." – she ordered without making any thought.

::::::::::

Lara's hair was still dripping with water as she stepped out of the shower of the small shaky motel room when Bryce's face appeared on the laptop screen. The reception was quite poor, despite the fact that satellite transmission was used. It was, however, good enough for the purpose. She settled in front of the machine and waited for the report.

"Unfortunately I do not have good news." – Bryce began with a sour face.

"Do not tell me you do not know who it was." – Lara retorted nervously.

"Will you wait till I finish maybe?" – the man said slightly hurt. Of course he knew, who the intruder was. He was better than this. Far better.

"I am sorry, go ahead." – Lara apologised. It was hard to contain herself, Bryce had always been very circumstantial, and she would have liked to know eagerly who balked her plans.

"So his name is Nathan Drake. American treasure hunter, mostly working on behalf of rich art collectors." – he summed up briefly.

"That would be Nathan Drake?" - Lara was surprised. She did not imagine him this way. She had heard of him remotely but they did not cross each other's ways so far. "What did you find out yet? I want to know everything. Who he is, who he is working for, how he knows about the eyes, what his purpose is, even what he had for dinner last night." – the woman urged him.

"Patience." – Bryce continued. "He has not been long in the business, but had a few major hits. All evidence indicates that he is currently working for Elias Johansson."

"Damn, I know him. Unscrupulous person, he is not afraid of anything to acquire a further relict. In general he uses guns to get what he wants. Since he has no idea about history he usually hires someone to help him. He also approached me a few times already. The only question is how he became aware of the eyes."

"Probably he bought the information on the black market. But I could not find any further details on this."

Thoughts were racing in Lara's head. If they knew about the eyes, were they also aware of their significance? Or were the eyes just another historical artefact Johansson wanted to acquire? Can it be that there was even more to it, and he knew about the grave of Genghis Khan as well? Lara could not afford to let this slip out of her hands. Too much energy was spent on it, for too long she had been searching for it. Now this was also a question of prestige, some American guy could not put her nose out of joint, this could simply not happen.

"It appeared to me as if the soldiers had been rather chasing Drake instead of helping him." – Lara was thinking out loud. "However, I have to be careful, you cannot know who is on whose side. In any case I must obtain the second stone before our new friend gets hold of it. Then we can think about what to do the next." – the woman said. "In half an hour I will be ready with everything here, send the helicopter by then. I have to get to Malaysia as soon as possible."

:::::::::::::

Nathan Drake was sitting at the wheel of a battered jeep trying to get forward on a barely passable route deep inside the Malaysian jungle. The vehicle was shaking so much that he sometimes had to be alert to avoid biting into his own tongue. He was very much satisfied with the current developments. It was true that he only got there in the very last moment to get the first eye, _but only the result counts, not how we reach it_ - he thought. Not much time was left to look at anything as a smaller army was chasing him down the corridor. It seemed that his client was not at all happy that Nate held back some important information from him. First, he almost did not notice that someone was standing next to the platform, he was concentrating so much on getting away from the mercenaries. He knew that this was his only chance to get the stone and gain some advance on them. Nate vaguely remembered something, was it maybe a woman? Could this have been? Or did he just imagine it? Being so focused on the stone he did not have time to look, who had almost outrun him by a little. But only almost. Whoever it was, he would have liked to see his face when he noticed that the eye had disappeared from under his nose. This thought made him feel even better. Nathan Drake was always certain of what he was doing. He did not plan or prepare for anything in advance, but he always resolved the challenges. Sometimes this way, sometimes the other way, but this was not the point. He could not have claimed that he was intentionally in search for danger, but somehow things always ended up in a way that bullets rained around him.

Slowly he was approaching his destination. He looked at the map lying on the seat next to him, a thick red circle marked the location of the second eye. A few hundred feet, and it should be there. He changed the gear back as he came to a slope. The area was so deserted, that he was not sure whether anybody came this way in the last hundred years. The barely visible route was almost covered by the vegetation, huge leaves were hanging in the way so that he often had to bend from them. Suddenly he became aware of a tree-trunk lying across the road. Although it was lying relatively oblique, as if someone had already half-turned it out of the way. But who the hell would have done this, Nathan did not consider it particularly important. He stopped the jeep and got out. The log did not seem particularly heavy, it was quite rotten. He bent down and removed it in a relatively effortless way. A bad feeling fumbled in him about the whole thing but he did not think of it much longer.

After a sharp right turn he stopped the engine and set off on foot into the dense undergrowth, following the map. According to the description the eye must have been in a subterranean chamber. He just had to find the entrance. Not much later he saw a lot of stones lying abandoned. Almost nothing was left from the building but he could sometimes make out the outlines still. This was not the important part anyway, but what was hidden under his feet. He went around the only column that was still standing proudly among the trees. Behind it there was the entrance that led underground. But something was not right. The plants were already cut out by someone around it and the hole was open. The bad feeling began to grow stronger in Nathan's stomach. He descended through the gap, the whole structure was not large. Only one corridor led to a low ceiling room that opened on the other side. Huge spears were standing out of the walls on both sides, most of them already largely broken. Someone had been here, and destroyed the trap. Drake squeezed himself through the gap between the spears and went on. In the small room there was no decoration on the walls, they were created of rammed earth. In the middle there was the usual platform. However instead of the eye there was just a piece of paper lying on it, with a short handwritten message. Drake approached, read it and angrily tucked it in his back pocket. There was nothing to be done, someone was faster. In his anger he kicked a pebble, which lay on the ground, while cursing inside.

:::::::::::

Nathan Drake entered the small hotel room in Kuala Lumpur and slammed the door behind him. It slapped so loud that the other man sitting in an armchair in front of the television nervously turned his head back and looked at Drake. Victor Sullivan knew Nathan for a thousand years but he did not remember seeing him in such a rage ever before. Generally they worked together but Sully could not always keep up with his much younger partner anymore. Nathan regarded him as an older brother, best friend and guardian angel in one person. Many times they saved each other out of trouble. It was thanks to Sully that he did not end up spending long years in a Turkish prison after a burglary went wrong. Actually, Sully was the father person in his life that he never had but Nate would never have admitted it considering that his partner would have killed him for such a comment. He was very delicate about his age.

Nathan threw himself in the other armchair opposite Sully, the piece of furniture squeaked big time under him, it was no longer new.

"What happened? You do not look too cheerful." – Sully said.

"Do not tell me, I am about to explode. Someone was there before me. I simply do not understand how this happened. I was convinced that no one else knew about the eyes. Let's just say that I have heard of them from quite an exclusive source." – Drake fumed.

"So now what? We do not get anywhere with only one eye." – Sully stated very logically.

"I know that very well. You do not have to remind me." – Drake was thinking hard to come up with something. "But it appears that our opponent is aware of this as well. There was a message left where the eye should have been." – he said intently.

"Why did you not start with this? Then you know who the guy is?" – Sully asked with hope.

Nate reached into his pocket and drew out a small piece of paper that looked very messy in the meantime. He threw it over to Sully, who smoothed it and began to read the short message. _Meet me at five o'clock in the afternoon on the 25__th__ at Kuala Lumpur's main square. __Come alone. Lara Croft._ That was the whole message put on the paper with a sophisticated hand-writing. Sully raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Lady Lara Croft. It has been a long time." – Sully sighed wistfully searching in his memories.

Nate suddenly did not know what to think. On the one hand it did not surprise him that Sully knew the woman, on the other hand, this was new information. A Lady? He tried very hard to remember who he saw in the room in Thailand but could not bring back the image.

"Is there any woman in the world, who you do not know, Sully?" – he asked back in disbelief. Sully laughed seeing Nathan's expression. Drake was amazed again and again, what an impact Sully had on women, despite the fact that perhaps from the appearance he did not look like a filmstar but he was able to talk almost anyone off her feet.

"Unfortunately I do not know her as you think I would, although I would definitely not protest against it." – he grinned more. "I ran into her a couple of years ago at an auction in London." – he added.

"What can you tell about her?" - Nathan asked, curious. It was better to know his opponents. Although it had repeatedly occurred in the past that he thought to know someone, and it turned out that he was wrong. Enough, if he thought of Chloe. How many times did he already get into trouble because of women.

"That you are in serious trouble, kid." – Sully said, leaning back in his armchair while clasping his hands on the back of his neck. Nate still looked at him inquiringly.

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever it is that Lara Croft wants, she will get it for sure." - Sully replied with a determination, as if stating out some basic physical regularity, which could not be changed.

"Thanks for the encouragement." - Nate looked back at him in amazement. "On whose side are you really?"

"I am always on your side, kid. That is why I want you to be prepared for all eventualities."

"I do not think that a woman, correction, a lady would cause any trouble. I have had more dangerous opponents before." – Nathan said confidently.

"Do not be deceived by the appearance, Nate. Never underestimate Lara Croft. This woman is very good, very tough and incredibly hot." – he added with pleasure in his voice.

"Soon we will find out how good she is." – Nate concluded the matter with a determined face.

::::::::::

It was ten before five when Nathan Drake got out of a taxi, not far from the place which was mentioned in the message. First he wanted to look around in the neighbourhood before he would meet the woman. One could not be too careful, a lot was at stake. It could not be sure that the message came from the woman at all, this could have been just a setup to get the first eye from him. Even though something inside told him that he would not be so lucky to be able to avoid this meeting. He feared that if the woman was really as good as Sully announced, then it would be no easy task to get rid of her again. And Nate wanted the loot for himself. He was fed up with so called partners who always tried to cheat him in the end. Sully's words were on his mind: _Lara Croft always gets what she wants_. But he would not give in easily, and most importantly he would not fink out of this. He withdrew into a corner behind a wall and cautiously looked around. Johansson's men were shaken off in Thailand but he knew that his original client would not let it at that and would be hunting him.

A lot of people thronged at the square, he questioned himself for the first time how he would find someone here who had never seen before. Although Sully assured him that he would surely notice Lara Croft if the woman wanted it too. Nate began to feel that his partner had exaggerated things. He almost spoke about this woman as if she was no human being. If she was so good why had he never heard of her? Although he usually did not care about his competitors so far, yet he never had any problems with them.

As he scanned one side of the square with his eyes, he caught sight of the woman. It was really impossible to miss her. She was sitting at the last table in front of a cafe, casually leaning back on the chair, her legs lying on another one crossed on each other. Her eyes shut she was enjoying the sunshine, while one of her feet was moving to the rhythm of the music, which was playing in her ears. Nathan looked at her, and found that Sully did not exaggerate at all, at least when he was talking about her looks. She really looked hot, her clothes clung perfectly to her curves, while an incredible self-confidence was radiating from her. Nate approached the cafe. As if the woman would have felt him coming, she opened her eyes, took the earphones out of her ears and looked up at him.

"Please have a seat, Mr Drake." – she said pointing to the other side of the table while she put down her legs to the ground and straightened up in the chair. Nate could not bear to miss noticing the subtle London accent, which she spoke. "I'm glad you came." – the woman said.

"I guess you did not leave many other choices for me." – the man replied. "Things in Malaysia were not really as I was expecting them."

"As it seems I am not the only one in this situation who is somewhat disappointed by the evolution of the things." - Lara looked at him curiously. She was not yet able to decide what to expect from him.

"I hope that you do not feel like this because of me. I really do not like to disappoint."

"I assure you, that you did not disappoint me at all. On the contrary, it is truly amazing that you were almost able to keep up with me." – Lara retorted.

"Almost? If I remember correctly, I got the first stone, not you." – he replied laughing.

"That was only a little misfortune. A momentary uncertainty from my side, which will not occur again. Everyone learns from his own mistakes." – Lara said with a mysterious half-smile on her face.

"I must admit that I was quite surprised that you outran me. How did you know about the eyes?" – Nate asked while still trying to decipher the woman's face.

"I take this as a compliment. Maybe someday I will tell you about my methods but we do not know each other well enough to share all my secrets with you yet." – the woman said, while leaning forward. Putting her elbows on the table she clasped her hands in front of her face.

For a while they both just looked at each other trying to read the other's thoughts. Neither of them knew how to deal with the situation. They both expected the other to take the first step. Lara picked up the bottle of mineral water, which was standing on the table in front of her and took a sip. Nate finally broke the silence.

"Look, I think we need an agreement here. You give me the other eye, and in return I give you five percent of the loot at the end. This is a more than generous offer considering you do not need to do anything for it." – the man offered.

Lara tilted her head slightly to the side as if she was seriously thinking about the proposal. Her fingers traced over the line of her chin, while a smile ran over her lips.

"Your offer is really very generous." – she replied calmly. "But I am afraid I cannot accept it. Five percent are not enough for me. I want to be the one who finds and opens the grave. If only the gold matters to you then I suppose that let's say twenty percent would be acceptable for you." – she did not take her eyes off of him. It was like a professional poker game. The question was who found out the other's weak point first. After another two minutes of silence Nate sighed.

"This way we will not get anywhere." – he appointed. "What would you say if we search for the grave together, and share the loot? You take one eye, I will take the other, and we will see where we get with them." – he finally offered. Nate knew for sure that he would not be able to dissuade the woman to locate the grave, even if they had been sitting here till Christmas.

"Now we are in business." – she smiled. "In two days I meet you in Shanghai, we start from there. The transportation from there will be taken care of by me. Just be there and do not forget to bring the eye!" – the woman said with a voice that brooked no opposition.

"All right. But this does not make you the boss." – Nate added while standing up.

"See you in two days." - Lara ended up the conversation and returned the earphones to her ears.

She waited until Drake had disappeared from sight, and then took out the headset from her pocket.

"I think everything went according to the plan." – Bryce heard her on the other end of the line. "I do not know how much Drake knows, but probably I managed to convince him that I was only interested in the tomb of Chagatai. Somehow I must obtain the diary without him noticing it. But if there will be a lot of gold, I do not think that this would be a particular problem."

"I hope so." – the man replied.

"Organise my trip to Shanghai please, and you know where we are going to go from there."

Lara leaned back on the chair again and noted with satisfaction that so far everything went exactly as she planned it. Of course, things could change fast enough, she must not be overweening. She spent about half an hour in the café still, while unobtrusively making sure that neither Drake nor Johansson's people were watching her. Then she stood up and slowly walked back to the hotel.


	3. Chapter 3

Shanghai, 2 days later

The second eye was lying on the table in front of the mirror, Lara was watching it intently while lying on the bed. Having had some business to do before they hit the road, she was already in the city for twenty-four hours. As a result of her shopping tour a smaller arsenal of weapons was spreading out on the floor next to the bed, including all kinds of guns, starting with an assault rifle. Even a couple of hand grenades. Lara did not feel like leaving anything to chance, so far the whole thing did not look like a nice little trip. In the meantime Bryce organized everything, a helicopter would be waiting for them at four in the afternoon, which would bring them to the northern part of China where the tomb was located. She was not particularly pleased that Nathan Drake came into the picture, but for now this was not the end of the world. This was not the tomb she was mostly interested in, she would somehow tolerate his presence. When she acquired the journal, she would quietly walk away and continue her research according to the original plan. _This is just a little detour, Drake will not even notice what is happening_ - she thought. She got up, went to the drawers and took the eye in her hands. Already having examined it a hundred times, she still could not figure out what it was good for. She turned it around but did not find an evidence of any mechanism that would be hiding in it. Despite this, she was sure that she was not only holding a piece of stone in her hands.

"Did you manage to find out anything about the eyes?" – she talked into the headset.

"I did not find anything new. This is the only documentation I have found so far. But it says nothing about what the eyes are good for." – Bryce said, who, as usual, was sitting in front of his computers in the tech room of the Croft Manor.

"Then we find it out on the spot. This will not be the first time I need to improvise." – Lara smiled to herself. "Slowly it is three o'clock, I am going to the meeting point. I really hope that Drake will show up." – she added.

"I am sure he does not want to miss this catch. Just be careful that he does not get wind of the diary." – the man reminded her.

"Do not worry, he will not be a problem. I check in as soon as we get there." – Lara said goodbye and removed the headset from her ears.

Packing the weapons in a light sport bag she collected her usual equipment. Her two favourite guns were put in her small backpack for the moment, she could not walk through the city with guns in her hands. Finally, she took the eyes, glanced on it for one last time and sank it in her backpack. Before stepping out of the door she looked around the room once more, but it seemed nothing was forgotten. She put on sunglasses and went down to the hallway.

Choosing the meeting point intentionally in this part of the city, she started to walk the streets. As she walked on the sidewalk, she glimpsed someone on the other side, who looked very familiar. Had she not seen this guy in the hotel lobby as well? Lara turned into a small street, to make sure if he followed her but the man did not go after her. Lara went on, but for some reason she became more and more cautious. As she turned back to another wide street, a tall blond man caught her eyes, who did not fit into the picture. Wearing a dark shirt and dark sunglasses, he was clearly not a tourist. Lara sped up her steps. The man followed her. _Damn, I have to shake them off_ – the thought ran through her mind. After glancing around the corner and she breathed a sigh of relief. _This is exactly what I need_ - she thought. A vast marketplace appeared in front of her eyes, where thousands of people swarmed. The woman plunged into the maelstrom. Before her follower vanished from sight she quickly looked back. The blond man was not alone, as he signalled, at least six other guys moved to the direction of the market. Lara tried to advance more quickly, dodging the people. But in that crowd she could barely get forward. A variety of exotic aroma filled the air, the heat was even more intolerable in the crowd. Lara felt that the man was no longer far from her, she heard him pushing the people around not far behind. Suddenly she turned to the left, trying to restrain herself from running that would raise even more attention. Anyway, it seemed quite impossible to do so. Opposite her she realised that a similar face approached her. Now there was nothing left but to flee before she had been encircled. She looked at her watch, barely thirty minutes were left to get to the meeting point. She started to run anyway and after a while withdrew behind a booth in order to assess the situation. The two men seemed to have lost her trail in the crowd, one of them went in the opposite direction, but the other was coming towards her from the other side. She took out her pistols, took shelter in a corner and waited. The man was watching nervously in every direction. When he arrived in front of Lara, the woman suddenly grabbed him pulling him to her hiding place and instantly got a grip of his neck.

"Who do you work for and why are you following me?" – she fired off the question at him. The man was surprised, it seemed that he was not prepared to be attacked by the woman.

"I am not saying anything." - he retorted.

"Really?" – Lara pushed the gun harder against his temper. "You do not have to, I know it anyway." – she added. "Now, take the radio and tell the others that you have just seen me at the western part of the market."

The man hesitated, Lara tightened her arm around his neck, feeling that the guy was barely able to swallow. "Come on, I am not kidding" – she hissed in the man's ear. The man slowly raised the radio to his mouth and briefly talked into it.

"Thank you very much." - the woman smiled at him while she quickly turned the man around so that he looked at her. "And tell Johansson to get off me." – she added and hit the surprised man on the forehead with the butt of the gun, who dropped down to the ground.

After spying out of the alley she quickly launched in easterly direction.

::::::::::

In Shanghai there was always huge traffic, the taxi that Nate took at the airport to get into the city, barely moved forward. Nervously, he looked at his watch, there were only fifteen minutes left to get there. Although it was unlikely that the woman would leave without him anyway. His destination was already very close when the taxi got stuck in the traffic for good. He gave the money to the driver and got out of the car. He would get there sooner on foot. The arranged meeting took place at the top of a tower building, from where the helicopter would start. Nate got into the elevator and pressed the button to the twenty-second floor, he still had five minutes. The situation slightly annoyed him but he could not change it. He did not like it if someone tried to control him, while the woman had already proved to be far too dominant in the half an hour that they had met. But Nate was trying to take things casually, he was never the type who needlessly got nerved by everything. Over time things would develop. In any case he had to be careful not to let the control out of his hands. It would not be an easy adventure, he already felt it.

He stepped out of the elevator and ran up a short flight of stairs, which led to the roof door. As he left immediately he saw the helicopter at the distant edge of the roof. Lara Croft stood in the shadows near the door, apparently only waiting for him. It was unbelievable that she was always there before him. Except that one time. Actually, then she also outran Drake, it was really just luck that he still had a faint chance to acquire the eye. And he made use of this chance, otherwise he would not be here.

"I am glad to see you again, Ms Croft." – he greeted the woman.

"Call me Lara. If we already work together on this, there is no need to complicate things." – the woman answered in a friendly manner. Nate was surprised, this was not what he expected from her.

"Nate." – he replied, while shaking hands. The handshake was strong from both sides but somehow neither of them was now trying to overdo it. "All right, then it seems we are ready to go." – Nate looked over toward the helicopter.

"I guess it is superfluous to ask, but you have the eye with you, right?" – Lara asked the question just to be sure.

"I guess it is unnecessary to ask whether you have the other?" – Nate asked back knowingly. Lara did not say anything, just meekly put up her hands. This was the moment when they both put down to themselves that the other was a professional. They just turned towards the helicopter when something glinted on the top of the opposite building. Nate barely noticed the small light, but something stirred in him. When he heard the familiar blowing sound getting ever louder, he only had time to throw himself back pulling the woman with him. They both felt the hot impulse, which tossed them into the doorway as the helicopter exploded with a huge crash. For a moment they did not even know what happened, the blow deafened them. Rising to their elbows on the ground they could harldy make out the smoking silhouettes of the burning wreck of the helicopter. Black smoke filled up everything.

"Holy crap. It seems we need to look after other means of transportation. How the hell did they get a rocket launcher?" – Drake groaned.

"I do not know, but I think we should better disappear from here as quickly as possible." – Lara said, as she heard footsteps getting louder in the staircase behind them.

The staircase was no option for an escape, hurriedly they looked around what else they might do. Nate ran to the edge of the roof, while trying to breathe in the suffocating smoke as little as possible. Lara targeted the other side, they had to find some possibility to escape, Johansson's men had almost reached the roof. This was the moment when Lara noticed the window cleaning structure on the opposite office building. Nate followed her gaze and instantly understood what she meant. There was almost no time left, at this moment, the soldiers broke down the door.

"Come on, jump!" – Nate said, pointing to the cable over their heads running over to the other building. The first shot whooshed next to Lara's head. She did not have to be told twice. With their guns in their hands they passed over on the wire to the top of the other building. Lara landed hard on the other side, as she let the cable go. If she had not rolled away immediately, Nate would have fallen on her. Ten bullets pierced almost immediately into the small projection next to their heads.

"What the hell did you do that they are so mad at you?" – Lara asked with amazement, when they deployed behind the offset of the roof.

"I will tell you, it is a long story." - Nate grinned back.

"I cannot wait." – Lara rolled her eyes.

Suddenly jumping out of the shelter they lumped down to the washing structure one floor below them. Nate immediately pushed the button down. In the meantime, bullets were whizzing from both directions as some soldiers followed them to the other roof. They could only pray they would not get hit, while they felt like going down in slow motion. Lara raised her pistols, and emptied the magazines in the direction of the opposite roof. One soldier immediately collapsed and another one dropped his gun from his hand in pain. Above them two faces appeared at the edge of the roof, Nate looked up, and fired. They only heard the dull thud, as they collapsed. One guy jumped onto the structure that trembled dangerously, as he landed next to them. Nate grabbed the gun pointed at them, they began to scuffle in the tight space. Lara could not get there yet, Drake stood between her and the soldiers. A shot was fired, which plunged into the glass not far from the woman's head. Lara froze for a moment when she realized how near she was to certain death. She wanted to put end to this impossible situation, while the stand was already halfway down. Stepping closer, she hit the mercenary in the ribs with a well-aimed kick.

"Shit!" - Nate exclaimed as the guy tumbled over the railing, pulling Nate with him too. In the last moment he clung with one hand to the central metallic rod, was struck hard to the side of the basket and hung in the ten storey height. The soldier fell jigging into the depths. "I do not know whether to thank you for this." – he looked at her when Lara helped him climbing back beside her with effort. Lara smiled and shrugged. "Sorry" – she said at last smiling.

Once they had reached the ground, they jumped out and with their guns in their hands ensconced in the cover of the alley behind the house. Nervously looking around, they were confident that the mercenaries would not give up so easily and would follow them.

"So what now?" – Nate asked. "I think we need a new plan."

"We should get out of here very quickly." – Lara added. Both were thinking hard. There was no time for Bryce to arrange another helicopter for them, they had to look for other options.

"I think I remembered something. I know an old friend here who could help us out." – Drake said suddenly. "Give me your mobile phone." – he said looking at her. Lara reached into her pocket and handed him the phone. He spoke briefly, Lara heard that it was not a pleasant conversation, while she was watching the neighbourhood.

"The meeting point is two streets away from here in fifteen minutes. Until then, we have to get over there somehow." – he said to her. "I suggest we try in that direction." – he pointed to the east.

Lara nodded, and they started out of the dead-end. As they reached the end of the alley, Lara just wanted to step out into the street when Nate reached his arm in front of the woman, and withdrew her, pushing her to the wall behind him.

"Hey ..." – Lara tried to interrupt but Nate did not let her speak.

"Shhh ... the mercenaries on the other side." – the man said. Lara could not look, because the man's arm still held her against the wall.

"Would you mind taking your hand off me?" – the woman asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Sorry." – Nate looked at her wondering, he did not really notice what happened. "It was not intentional." – he added fast as he quickly pulled away his hand from her.

They waited until the soldiers passed in front of them and ran to the other side, straight into another small dark street. They sneaked staying close to the wall, Nate in front, Lara behind him watching their backs so that no one surprised them. A few minutes later they reached the meeting point, ensconced into a gateway and waited for the agreed time to come.

"I hope your pal is reliable." – Lara said.

"Do not worry, we went through a few things together." – Nate replied.

Within a few minutes they heard the buzz of the engine, and the car skidded a few meters away from them. Nate spied out, walked toward the car and then motioned to Lara to follow him. She was not even surprised to see that a woman was sitting at the wheel. Lara saw that the other woman was watching her with interest as well when she glimpsed her. Nate jumped into the front seat, having no other choice Lara got back.

"Lara Croft, Chloe Frazer. Chloe, this is Lara." – he introduced the two women quickly, who still watched each other with interest. "Now, let's get the hell out of here as fast as possible." – Nate called over to Chloe.

"That is really nice that you thought of me, Nate." – the woman said, while speeding away from the scene. "When did I hear anything about you for the last time? A year ago? What the hell did you get into again?"

"It is better you do not know." – he grinned.

"Then again, you managed to drag someone else into your crazy undertakings." - Chloe looked back at Lara. "Take my advice, darling and get out of this, while you still can." – she laughed.

"I think this chance is already missed." – Lara replied. "In addition, I am not here by coincidence."

Chloe looked at the man, who was sitting next to her with a determined face, and then looked at Lara in the mirror, while racing through the city.

"I did not expect that I would become the last year's model so fast." – she looked at Nate inquiringly. Lara did not understand anything.

"We are not ..." – Drake protested but then he realized that it makes no sense. Knowing Chloe she would not believe him anyway if he rejected it.

"I tell you I could tell some stories about this gentleman beside me." – Chloe looked at Nate laughing. Lara leaned forward with growing interest.

"Chloe, I think nobody wants to hear these things." – Nate tried to stop her.

"I am happy to listen." – Lara interjected. The two women started to hit it off together more and more. Already too well according to Nate.

"But unfortunately, we are there." – Nate said when he saw the station building.

Chloe pulled aside, Nate and Lara got out.

"Thanks for everything, Chloe." – Drake thanked for the ride. "You are still saving my ass." – he said and kissed her on the face.

"Have fun, guys! Do not forget to send a postcard." – Chloe said while she stepped on the gas and disappeared in the traffic.

:::::::::::

"What a pity." – Lara joked going inside the building. "I really would have liked to hear the stories about you."

"I bet. But we are not here to enjoy ourselves." – Nate looked back. "Whatever you hear from Chloe about me, do not believe a word of it." – he grinned.

Lara just shook her head in disbelieve._ I have to ask __Bryce to find out some things for me about him_ – she thought to herself as she became more and more curious. Lara began to have the impression that things never went smoothly according to plan, if Nate was around.

They carefully peered around as they mingled into the crowd that was trying to get inside the building. But so far it seemed that they managed to shake off the mercenaries.

"Crap." – Drake exclaimed as he looked up to the information table. "Our train is about to leave. We must reach it, or else the next one goes only in two hours."

They hurried over in the direction of the platforms, Lara pacing a few yards in front of Nate. She looked back to see where he was.

"Come on. There goes the train." – she called back to him. For Nate it was much more difficult to progress in the crowd. Lara started to run beside the tracks and jumped on the last car when the train just started. Fortunately, it was an older type of train that it proved to be easy to climb on. Nate was still about thirty feet away from the end of the train, which was moving faster and faster. Lara watched anxiously, she could not lose sight of the man until he had the other eye. Drake was now running at full extent, slowly approaching Lara, who reached out her arm. _Now or never_ – the thought crossed Nate's mind, when he jumped and grabbed the woman's hand. Finally, with great difficulty he managed to climb into the car. As if nothing had happened, they walked inside the train looking for an empty cabin. Three wagons down finally they found an empty one, Lara dropped on the seat, Nate closed the door after him. She immediately put the headset in her ear and dialled.

"Bryce." – she said almost immediately. "We urgently need another helicopter."

"Why?" What happened to the one I sent?" – he asked back in surprise.

"Let's just say that we had some problems in Shanghai." – Lara replied absently. "Right now we are moving north with the six o'clock train from Shanghai. Please organize a helicopter to pick us up as soon as possible."

"All right. Stay available. Checking in as soon as possible." – the answer came.

Lara cut the line and leaned back on the seat with satisfaction.

"I like your attitude. It seems to me, you were not really surprised by the evolution of things." – Drake looked at her curiously.

"I planned our travel a little bit less spectacular but this is not the first time that I have to change my plans." – Lara replied calmly.

"I must admit, I had my doubts but slowly I must agree to the opinion of my partner." – Nate confessed. Lara looked at him inquiringly. "Victor Sullivan. He eulogised you."

Lara's eyes narrowed as she was thinking. Sullivan, Sullivan ... – she was searching in her memories.

"Oh yes, now I remember. The auction. He would have loved to get something from me, but he had no chance." – she smiled. "Then he would have liked something else too but he had even less chance for that." – she looked at Nate knowingly.

"Of course, that is Sully. No offense from him, he never can resist the temptation." – Nate laughed. "Although I think in this case, no one could blame him for it." – he added as he measured her with his eyes.

"The partners seem to be quite similar." – Lara stated. "Chloe is very pretty." – she changed the topic. Nate heard the curiosity in her voice. The man just looked at her mysteriously, he did not like talking about his previous girlfriends. There was silence for a while, only the rattling of the train could be heard. As the minutes passed, she had noticed that Drake was still watching her. Raising her eyebrows she looked back at him inquiringly. She wanted to know what was on his mind.

"Just wondering ... a Lady?" – the man said incredulously. Lara smiled. She was already accustomed to it that her name triggered this reaction in people.

"Why? What did you expect? That I show up in a corset and a long dress?" – Lara laughed.

"This is certainly not what I expected."

"And you have not even seen everything yet." – she joked.

"I can hardly wait." – Nate grinned.

Suddenly they became aware of shouts from outside. Nate pulled down the window and stuck his head out.

"Oh, crap. How did they find us again?" – he asked nervously, as he saw armed men jumping up at the end of the train from a truck. Lara jumped up from her seat and immediately grabbed her gun. She checked on the weapon and pushed a full magazine in it.

"Let's get out of here." – the woman said spying out into the corridor. Nothing suspicious could be seen yet, the soldiers needed definitely more time to reach this part of the train. They slipped out of the cabin and went in the opposite direction. After stepping out of the car they jumped the gap between the two wagons. Below them the rails were rushing quickly. Nate looked out on the side to assess the situation. Then he saw a soldier, who was standing on the top of the train two cars down.

"There they are." – he heard him right away as the guy called the others.

"Bloody fantastic." – he heard the critical voice of Lara behind him. "It would have been too simple, if they had not seen us."

Nate shrugged, and began to run through the next carriage, some passengers looked strangely at them. After a while, they noticed that only one wagon was left in front of them.

"This is no good, we drive ourselves into a corner." – Nate said. "I think there is no other choice but to oppose them. We cannot sit back here and wait to be captured. I think it is the best if we climb to the roof."

Lara had to admit that Drake was right.

"Wait a moment" - Nate said to her, while he began to climb the side of the train. The soldier, who first noticed them, just reached the car, on which they were standing. Drake hung on the side of the wagon and shimmied around until he reached him. Suddenly his hand reached up and pulled the guy off the roof, who even forgot to shout in surprise as he landed in the bushes next to the rails. _One less_ – Nate thought. He motioned Lara to follow him. They ensconced behind a roof vent when two more candidates climbed up on the side of the train. Almost at once they looked out from behind the cover and fired. If anyone had seen them in action, he would have thought they had plotted in advance, although this was not the case. Somehow they instinctively felt what the other was thinking. The two soldiers were dropped down on the roof. Nate moved forward, jumping over the gap between the cars, Lara covered his back. Another three mercenaries were brought down. Lara was running out of ammo, much to her regret the major part of her equipment was on the helicopter. Just her backpack was left after the explosion, her two pistols, some extra ammunition, a few grenades and of course the eye. Nate was not doing much better either. Meanwhile, their opponents reached the other end of the train and now approached from two sides. Lara and Nate were exposed to cross-fire on the top of the train.

"For me this was the last magazine." – Nate tried to outshout the train.

"I have yet another one, but then that was it." – Lara shouted back.

"So what now?" – Drake asked with some concern in his voice. Lara had no idea either. Then she heard Bryce's voice in her ear.

"Lara, the helicopter is on its way. It could be there any minute." - Bryce said.

"It could not have been a better timing. I love you." - Lara said with a relief.

Meanwhile, the soldiers were coming nearer, Nate shot two more of them, but his weapon was just clicking empty. Lara threw him one of her pistols. Suddenly she heard the distant sound of the helicopter, the soldiers raised their heads to the noise as well. Lara and Nate jumped up almost at the same time to the ladder and the helicopter immediately began to move away, while they were climbing up. They did not wait until the soldiers realised what was happening and began to fire upon them. "Have a nice trip!" – Nate called out to them before they disappeared from their sight.


	4. Chapter 4

"Fly to the north" - Lara said to the pilot, after she pulled Nate into the plane next to her. They both put on the headphones so that they were able to communicate with each other.

"Again, this was rather close." – Nate said.

"So far, I thought you liked the excitement." – Lara teased him. "Fortunately Bryce knows his job and sent us some equipment as well." - the woman said as she opened a large bag in front of her feet, which was full of weapons, ammunition and other useful things.

"Just like Christmas morning." - Nate joked as he picked up a gun.

"Now that you got a new one, you can give me back mine." – Lara looked at him.

"I am sorry, I did not know that you insist on it so much." – Nate offered her the gun and Lara took it with a smile.

"They have never let me down." – she said while putting it away in her backpack.

Hardly half an hour had elapsed, when Lara felt a tingling in her pocket. She grabbed the phone and was surprised to see that Bryce called on the encrypted line. Taking off the headphones she put her headset in her ear.

"You will not like what you will hear now." - Bryce began. Lara began to feel that all caught up against her. She could not imagine what would come next. "The helicopter, on which you are sitting ... it is sending some sort of a signal out but I cannot figure out where from." – he continued.

"You mean someone is tracking us where are we going?" – Lara asked back in almost a whisper so that the others did not hear her. "You know where the signals are going to?" – she asked although she was almost certainly she knew the answer herself.

"I do not know for sure, but we can assume that Johansson has his hands in this. There is a high likelihood that the pilot is involved as well." – Bryce replied.

"Damn." – Lara cursed. "So if we go on, we are leading Johansson straight to the tomb." – she said. Thoughts were flashing in her head, how she could solve this problem. In that moment she was very glad that she did not give the exact coordinates to the pilot in advance. "I will call you when I find out something." – Lara said and broke the line. Quickly she grabbed a piece of paper, wrote a few lines on it, and then handed it to the man who sat beside her. Nate quickly ran his eyes over it, and just wanted to speak, but Lara pushed her index finger to his lips before any word could have come out of it. The woman put on the headphones and talked to the pilot.

"You do know where the nearest settlement is?" – she asked.

"There is a small village nearby, but you will not find anything there. They have almost no infrastructure out there." – the pilot replied.

_This is just what I need_ – Lara thought. It perfectly suited her plans. "Could you land there for a short while?" - she asked him. "I have some business to arrange."

"If you want, of course." – the pilot looked back examining her face with his eyes.

Barely ten minutes later, the machine descended toward a clearing near the village. Lara looked over to Drake, who nodded, then she picked up the gun. As soon as the machine touched the ground, with a quick motion she pushed the gun to the head of the pilot, who was very surprised.

"Now take your hands off the rudder and slowly step out of the machine." – she told him indifferently.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?" – the man countered but he could not look back at her.

"Do not pretend that you do not know what is going on." – Lara responded with delight in her voice. "I know exactly that you are sending signals to Johansson." – she looked at him, and the guy did not have to answer for her to know that she was right. "Put your hands up, and get out slowly." – she pushed the gun harder against his temper.

He slowly opened the door and stepped out into the clearing. Nate ran over to him, and quickly searched him.

"There is nothing with him that he could use." – he said to the woman, and then returned to the machine. In the meantime Lara climbed over to the driver's seat in the front.

"All right. Then have fun here. I am sure it will take a few days till Johansson finds you here in the middle of nowhere." – Lara smiled, and started the helicopter. The man looked at them in disbelief, as the machine lifted into the air and they left him there in the middle of North China.

:::::::

"You never said that you can fly a helicopter." – Drake looked at her in surprise.

"I can do a lot of things that I have not talked about yet." – the woman replied, smiling back mysteriously. "But we cannot go with this machine much further, we would lead Johansson right to the tomb." – she said while looking around where they could land. The area was still forested, but Lara knew that as they advanced to the north the vegetation would become increasingly rare. She wanted to land where the trees would hide the plane, but they were not too far from their destination, since there was no other vehicle available to them. After choosing the right spot she landed the helicopter on the ground. "Let's get going then." - she looked at Nate, who sat beside her. "We cannot take all the weapons with us, let's try to keep our equipment within certain limits and rather take more ammunition instead of many weapons." – she added.

"Do I look like someone who does this for the first time?" - Nate looked at her incredulously.

"Well, I am sorry. I am not accustomed to working with someone else. "- the woman replied while gathering the necessary things from the big bag and got out of the machine. Nate also took a few magazines, hanged a machine gun on his shoulder and followed her into the woods.

"How come you never worked with anyone?" - Nate asked curiously.

"I do not know, I get along well alone. I do not need anyone to look after." – Lara said.

"And if that someone can take care of himself?" – Drake asked back.

"And share the glory with someone? When it can be mine alone?" - she looked up. "I have Bryce, and I know my way out here."

"I can see that. It seems you know this area quite well." – Drake said as he looked around but had no idea where they were.

"I have been here a few years ago. I would have found Chagatai's grave long ago but without the eyes you cannot get anywhere." – Lara said. "Now tell me, how did you know about the eyes?"

"Let's just say that I have my connections in archaeologist circles." - Nate said with a grin. Lara looked at him doubtfully from the corner of her eye, yet she did not know what to do with this statement, but she did not push the matter any further. "And you? I was convinced that only I knew about their whereabouts." – he asked back.

"As I said, I have Bryce, who can do magic with his computers. But I cannot say more." - Lara smiled knowingly.

In the meantime, they continued their journey through the trees, advancing faster and faster. They knew that there was not much time before Johansson found out that they had him on and would start looking for them. The further they got from the helicopter the better. There was a long road ahead of them to the grave, Lara did not dare to risk to land too close to their ultimate goal. Her only concern was that getting forward would become too dangerous when it got too dark and they could not see anything. But she did not want to lose time and wait for the morning. Almost an hour went by when Lara's eyes caught something among the trees in the twilight.

"I do not believe this." – she said suddenly.

"What happened?" – Drake turned his head, as he noticed that the woman stopped beside him. His hands moved toward the gun and he looked around nervously expecting some danger again any moment. But there was no concern on Lara's face, on the contrary, a satisfied smile spread on it.

"I completely forgot about this." – Lara said, while she started walking toward the trees, and was approaching a strange looking woodpile. Drake did not understand anything. "As I said, I have been here already in the past." – Lara began to explain. "And quite a surprise, I had to leave the scene pretty hastily. I cannot believe that we bumped into this accidentally." – she continued throwing more and more trenches off the mound. Nate slowly began to understand what she was talking about when the contours of a jeep started to appear under the leaves.

"This is great, so we do not have to walk all night." – he said pleased. "I love driving Land Rovers." - he added, as he quickly got into the driver's seat, ignoring the fact that the vehicle belonged to the woman. But the view unfolded in front of his eyes very quickly wiped the grin off his face. What the hell…? – the thought crossed his mind with surprise.

"I think you are forgetting about something." – Lara entered the car on the right side, apparently enjoying the situation. Nate's expression was really fun to look at. "I do not know, if I mentioned before but I come from London." – the woman said while she lowered the sunshade and the ignition key fell into her hands.

"The British and their wheels on the right side." – Nate said irritably.

"Men and their eternal belief that only they can drive a car." – Lara snapped. "Believe it, you are in good hands. I can even park parallel backwards." – the woman continued sneered.

Nate only rolled his eyes and shook his head, while Lara tried to start the engine. She needed a few attempts, as the vehicle stood there for some time. But then the engine came to life. Following the instructions of her GPS they started off into the darkening forest. They could not move too fast but it was still far more comfortable than walking. A short time after the woman spoke again.

"Do you tell me finally why Johansson tries to kill you? I thought you were working for him."

"You are very well informed." – the man said. "As I can see this Bryce can really work wonders."

"I will pass him your appraisal next time." - Lara smiled. "So? I think I have the right to know, now that they are after me as well."

"I really worked for him. Then I realized what he needs the money for and I thought that I did not want to participate in this. But I did not want to miss this adventure. So I kept back a few minor details during our researches and it appears that he did not take this as good as I thought. Now he seeks to recover what according to him rightly belongs to him."

"So you are the good guy in this story?" - Lara asked while thinking about what she had heard.

"Many times I have tried to stop being the hero but somehow I always end up like this. You know, save the world, save the woman, while an army is trying to take care of me." – the man continued jokingly.

"Do not worry, I do not need to be saved. I do not even know how you will handle this new situation." – Lara looked back at him teasingly.

"We will still see about that." – Drake said with a smile as he looked into the woman's eyes. Lara held his gaze for a moment, she could not decide whether he was just playing this or he was really that cocky. Then she turned her look back to the road. They advanced slowly, not once Lara was able to avoid some snags only in the last minute. But an hour later they were approaching their destination. In the meanwhile it was totally dark outside but it did not matter to Lara. She knew exactly where to go and also that within the tomb it was irrelevant what time of day was out there. Lara stopped the car near the road. Nate could not see anything in the dark, he had no idea what was in front of them.

"Where are we?" – he asked the woman.

"Not far from the entrance of the tomb." – Lara replied, while she got out of the car and went to the trunk. Nate followed, and leaned against the side of the car, as he watched the woman, who was illuminated by the light coming from the trunk. Lara put one foot on the bumper of the car, and carefully attached the holsters to her thigh, then she repeated the whole thing on the other side. The dual pistols were introduced into their places. She adjusted her hair in the ponytail, and put the backpack on. Closing the strap on the chest she fixed the inevitable LED lamp on it. Finally she put on her fingerless leather gloves and closed the trunk. Nate watched her preparations with satisfaction, a malicious grin was sitting on his face when Lara looked up at him.

"What is it? You are not getting ready?" – the woman looked at him inquiringly.

"I was born ready." – he replied jokingly. Lara only meekly turned around and walked down the dark path. Nate followed idly while he could not help noticing what a well-shaped ass the woman had. After climbing some smaller rocks, the terrain became more and more difficult. Lara finally stopped at a place and pointed her fingers on a small gap in front of her.

"This is it? This little hole?" – Nate wondered.

"This is just the outer entrance. Carefully hidden, it is almost impossible that someone just happens to notice it without directly looking for it. In addition, some more surprises are waiting inside." – Lara let herself down the slot, which was only seven feet deep. Nate jumped down as well. The whole thing was not more than seven feet wide and seven feet long, all four sides of the room were closed by rocks.

"I guess this is not what we need." – Nate said sardonically.

"This is just a disguise of course. Even if someone accidentally came in here though, he would think that it was only a cave and that was all." – Lara explained, while she went to the rock wall and stuck her hand in a small hole. "Would you mind pulling the lever on the other side?" – the woman looked at him. Nate turned around and saw the same small hole in the wall on his side. He stuck his hand slowly in it and gently paddled around with his fingers. It was a strange feeling, he felt some cold air on his skin coming from somewhere, it was all dusty and cobwebbed. Then he felt the little lever that Lara meant. As they both pulled on it at the same time the rock wall in front of them dipped into the floor, and a dark corridor opened up in front of their eyes. Lara pulled a lighter from her pocket and lit the torches on the wall.

"I did not know you smoked." – Nate raised the matter.

"Of course I do not smoke, but I can still carry a lighter with me. Namely I prepare myself in advance that not everyone here can say about himself." – the woman retorted.

"So now only tell me one thing. How would you have opened up the entrance, if I was not here?" - Nate asked curiously, thinking that now he caught her.

"Do not forget that I have been here already. So I was able to open this gate before you appeared on the scene." – the woman replied not even looking at him. Nate was dying to know the answer how she did it but he did not push the matter any further, he cautiously started to walk forward in the corridor. "Do not worry, I have already turned off the traps in this area, so you do not need to be afraid." - Lara called after him and she also started to pace the corridor, leaving the man behind her after a short time. Nate followed without a word. Quickly they jumped a few ravines, passed along non-working traps and soon arrived at the actual entrance to the tomb, which was located already deep inside the mountains. A huge statue of a Mongolian soldier rose in front of their eyes but something was not right. Nate looked at the statue and Lara knew exactly what was on his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

"What is this?" – the man asked in surprise.

"I know. This was exactly my problem before too. Rightly, the question arises what the hell the eyes are good for." – the man's thoughts were put into shape by Lara. Not to mention that the statue's head did not depict Chagatai, in addition to this, both its eyes were on their places. "It would be only logical if the eyes were missing. However, why call them Chagatai's eyes, if the statue was not even modelled after him?" – Lara was thinking out loud.

Nate looked around in the room, but he could not see anything else but the statue. Only roughly carved rock surrounded them on every side, the shadows were strangely jumping on the stones in the light of the torches. Lara's fingers touched the statue, last time she had no chance to examine it more thoroughly. Johansson had been after this prey already, and Lara had to disappear very quickly if she did not want to reveal where the grave was. All she knew on the basis of her researches was that she needed Chagatai eyes, but even that time she could not understand what they were needed for. She raised her look up to the figure towering over her head, it was very well set out in comparison to the walls. Its two arms were stretched forward, each one holding a distinctive weapon. In the left hand there was a bow, in his right one a curved blade. The facial features clearly did not depict the son of the khan.

"I climb up to the face and I take a closer look." – Nate said. He did not even wait for Lara's reaction but began to climb at the foot of the statue. The task was relatively simple to do, there were a lot of things to grab on the figure. Lara watched him with interest from below.

A few minutes later, Nate was hanging in front of the statue's head, and examined it from closer.

"See anything?" – the woman asked.

"Not really." – Nate said while he looked down to Lara. But then he made a wrong step and slipped. He lost his balance, and with loud groans and bumps he landed in front of her feet in the midst of the dust.

"Ouch, that hurts." – he said, but Lara's attention was engrossed with something else at this moment. It was as if the statue was moving, the noise was growing louder, dust sprung up around the face, accompanied by a great blast, and something happened that they still could not make out in the dust. Nate got up from the ground and looked up in astonishment. As the dust settled down Lara spoke out with amazement.

"I do not know what you did but that was the solution. Although I use a bit more sophisticated methods, but this was not bad either." – she joked with him again. "Otherwise, are you okay?" – she said at last, when she remembered what had happened before.

"Never better." - Nate said, who already forgot about the accident.

The statue's head turned one hundred and eighty degrees, and another face was watching them. This face was already different, they both recognised it. Genghis Khan's son Chagatai looked back at them, or at least he just tried, because his eyes were missing.

"Are you ready for another climb?" – Lara looked at Nate smiling.

"Anytime." – he looked back at her and they began to climb up the statue. Almost at once they reached the head and then stopped for a moment at the two sides of the face. Solemnly they held up the eyes in one of their hands, while their eyes met.

"Shall we?" – Lara asked, and began to count back from three.

Suddenly they put back the stone balls to their places. For a moment nothing happened, but then the two eyes turned into the orbit, and the statue began to tremble slightly beneath them. They felt that the figure moved, a crack appeared in the middle and the statue opened up and slowly a dark corridor was revealed behind it. Lara climbed down, Nate followed, this time with more caution. They halted before the opening, and just looked into the blackness that filled everything.

The LED light cut into the darkness as Lara stepped into the hallway. Here they had to be more prudent, it was new terrain for the woman as well. Nate cautiously followed as Lara carefully considered every step. Even after advancing about hundred feet at this pace they did not encounter any obstacles, which began to become suspicious_. They want to throw us off our guard _– the woman thought. She ran her eyes over the bare walls, but she did not notice anything that could have made her conclude to any danger. Nevertheless, they both felt that things would not be so simple, they were totally concentrated on the unknown in front of them. Lara came to a halt so suddenly that Nate bumped into her from behind.

"Why are you stopping?" – he asked in surprise.

"Something is wrong. I can feel it." – the woman replied mostly just thinking out loud.

Nate took one more step, passing by Lara. Perfect silence reigned around them, nothing could be heard. Just as he slowly took one more step forward Lara became aware of a faint click. For a moment nothing happened, they both stood motionless, so as not to make any wrong move. But then it was too late, suddenly the floor began to shake, and they had no chance to avoid the trap. Both of them landed hard on the floor at the bottom of a ten-feet pit and the top closed over them immediately. Total darkness surrounded them, they had no idea where they were.

"Oh, shit. How could we run into this?" – Lara blamed herself. "I told you that something was not right."

"I think it is a little bit too late to dwell about this. We should rather find out how we get out of here." – Nate replied while scanning the walls with his flashlight. Lara also walked around the small room, roping the walls, but did not find anything that would have indicated that there would be any way out of this situation. She leaned against the wall and slid to the ground with a heavy sigh. Nate pointed his lamp on her.

"Now what is wrong? Do not tell me you have already given up?" – Nate asked her. Lara held her hands in front of her eyes, as he lit directly into her face. She squinted back at him.

"I do not know whether you noticed, but there is no way out of here. Or did you see anything, we could use?" – she countered.

"And then that was it? Now we wait until we slowly turn into mummies?" – Drake asked back. Lara looked back at him angrily. As if everything would be his fault but then she took a deep breath and gathered herself.

"Sorry, you are right. I do not know what is happening, that never occurred to me." – the woman said. Nate held out his hand, Lara looked up at him and smiled.

"That is better." – he said pleased, and pulled her to her feet. "Surely we can find something, there is always a way out." – Nate added absently. "If not, then at least we can spend the last couple of hours nicely." – he continued with a grin while he pulled her closer.

"Of course, men. Even in such situation they cannot think of anything else." – she looked at him incredulously, and loosely, but firmly pushed him away. Nate laughed and retreated a few steps, losing his balance for a moment. He propped himself with one arm against the wall, when something stirred. Lara moved the flashlight there to see that a piece of the wall rolled over in a quick motion, and a strange device appeared in front of their eyes.

"How do you do this that you literally fall onto the solution every time?" – the woman was wondering.

Nate shrugged. "Magic." – he said with a grin. "It looks like this is some kind of a combination lock." – he added, as he moved closer to the structure. Three metal plaques appeared in front of them, on which some strange symbols were engraved. As they investigated them more, they turned out to be kind of wheels, which could be turned around and they saw eight different signs on all of them. It was really like an ancient number lock. Lara, however, became aware of something else too. Did she just step into a puddle? Her boots made a squelchy sound.

"What the hell?" – she looked down at her feet. Suddenly another sound struck her ear as well. Did this sound like water? She nervously looked around and noticed that indeed water was running into the room in the four corners with an increasing speed. In a short time they were standing in an inch of water.

"It seems to me, we do not have much time to unravel the puzzle." - Nate found. "Then I am waiting for ideas what the solution is." – he looked at Lara inquiringly.

"Why are you looking at me? Are you not the great treasure hunter?" - the woman retorted.

"I heard about you from everywhere, that the great Lara Croft always gets what she wants." – he continued.

"Do we want to argue now or try to figure out what is going on?" – the woman looked at him angrily, arms crossed. Nate looked back at her meekly. "It seems to me that stress situations are not our strengths." – Lara added. They both walked up to the structure, Lara began to rotate one wheel.

"Some are familiar to me but I cannot figure out where I have seen them." – Lara said. Meanwhile, the water reached till the middle of her shin. "There are eight marks on all of them, that makes a lot of possible combinations. We have no chance to try them all."

Nate tried another wheel, turned it over and over again, attempting to bring back any memories, which could be related to the signs. During his recent adventures in Tibet, he met a very similar script. The situation became more urgent after the water level had risen till their loins, yet they did not get any further. There was no sound, which would have concluded that any of the wheels would be in the right position. They were thinking desperately but nothing came to their minds. Nate was now just randomly trying around, hoping he would be lucky again but to no avail.

"These signs have to have something to do with Chagatai." – she thought. "It cannot be a coincidence that exactly these signs are here."

"This does not get us much further." – Nate said while the water had reached up to his neck. Slowly he began to despair. Soon they had to tread the water if they did not want to sink. The room was half full, they had maybe fifteen minutes to go. Since Lara was slightly smaller than the man, she was the first to kick herself off from the ground, but only shortly after Nate was also only able to keep his head above water by swimming.

"This is looking really great." – he said absently. "I cannot decide what is better, drowning or starving. Perhaps the former is faster." – Nate thought out loud.

"What if you tried to think about the puzzle instead?" – Lara asked him annoyed. "I did not plan to finish my career here."

"Do you think that if we did not get anywhere so far, then we will just in ten minutes?" – the man asked.

"Did you not just say that there is always a way out?" – she asked in amazement.

"It seems I was wrong." – Nate said as he looked into her eyes. "I only know one of these symbols, and this does not get us anywhere." – he added incidentally.

"What? You know one of the signs and do not even tell me?" - the woman asked in amazement.

"I did not? One of them is Ögedei's sign."

"Wait a minute. There are three wheels and what do we know about Chagatai?" – Lara asked with growing enthusiasm.

"What if we play this game a bit later when we have more time?" – Nate looked up noticing that there were only three feet left over their heads.

"Chagatai had three brothers and one of them was Ödegei. Our only chance is if we find the names of the other brothers on the two other wheels. Now I know why they were familiar." – Lara jabbered. She took a deep breath and dived into the water. Nate followed. They swam to the wheels, and Lara started to turn them again. She was not at all sure of what she was doing. Kicking herself off from the floor she took a deep breath when she reached the surface. Only one feet of space was left between the water level and the ceiling. Nate's head poked out not far from her.

"I am not sure which are the correct symbols but we have not many chances left. This is the last attempt." – Lara said, but she knew that Drake was aware of the situation as well.

"Then let's do it." – the man replied. "By the way .." - he added quickly – "if we would not make it out of here ... I am glad to have met you."

Lara smiled at him, took a deep breath again, then dived. Nate shook his head and followed her. He swam to the first wheel and set Ödegei's sign on it. Lara tried the third wheel. She watched over it more than once, and then settled with a symbol. On the middle wheel though there were several signs that looked familiar to her, she did not know which one to choose. She felt that she was slowly running out of air and it was not possible to surface anymore. Not having much other choice she turned the wheel quickly to the mark that looked the most familiar. But nothing happened. She looked around nervously, then quickly replaced it with another sign on the structure. Again nothing. She began to choke, her lungs were yelling for oxygen. With a last gesture she reached down to the wheel but she did not really know anymore what she was doing. The wheels began to blur in front of her eyes, she had to force herself not to open her mouth and inhale the water, which surrounded her. She was close to losing consciousness. Then she just felt that something grabbed her and pulled her upwards. Higher and higher, as if she had floated. Then suddenly her lungs filled with oxygen, she breathed it in greedily. Would this be possible or did she just imagine it? But she felt more and more certain that air impregnated her body and then a strong hand pulled her out of the water. As she slowly opened her eyes the face of Nathan Drake looked back at her anxiously.

"Lara, are you okay?" – she heard the man's voice distantly. The woman shook her head, then slowly rose to her elbows on the ground.

"What happened?" – she asked in amazement.

"It seems to me that I am not the only one who is lucky sometimes." – he replied, smiling. "You must have hit the right sign, because the roof opened."

"After all, it is good that one of us never gives up." – she smiled too. She sat up, and leaned her back against the bare wall. They sat there side by side only looking forward for a couple of minutes. Maybe this was a little too close for Lara too, if Drake could not have hold his breath a bit longer, they both would have drowned in this secluded place. Maybe no one ever would have found their bodies in the hidden traps. But none of them liked to think a lot about these and similar eventualities, this simply belonged to the job. The whole thing would have been half as much fun for any of them if this constant threat had not hovered over their heads.

"What do you say if we go and see what awaits us next?" – the man looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Good idea, I do not know why we are slacking here for minutes already." – Lara joked. Nate stood up, pulled the woman to her feet and they went further down the corridor.


	6. Chapter 6

After this they still advanced very carefully and slowly but the rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. To their biggest surprise there were only minor tasks, some openings to jump over, some arrows to avoid, some walls to climb. Nothing that would have challenged either of them. Then the corridor was closed by a door in front of them. The very old wooden door was heavily decayed over time.

"I think our Mongolian friends were quite sure of their job with that water trap. They did not really exert themselves after this." - Lara said.

"I will take care of this." – Nate came over to the door. He pulled his weight and with a well-aimed kick he brought down the rather battered door. Not even a serious effort was required, the old door surrendered creaking and fell on the floor raising a lot of dust. Lara entered the dark room, and moved her flashlight around. She could see the usual torches all around the wall of the room. As she lit them one after the other, this uncommon spectacle unfolded in front of their eyes. The room itself was not big but it was full of beautiful objects. In the middle the stone coffin of Chagatai was standing surrounded by statues of Mongolian soldiers, defending him from the intruders. The Mongols, unlike the Egyptians, rather prepared their dead for fight, only weapons were lying everywhere, even an elaborate sculpture of a horse was standing behind in the corner. However, what caught Nate's eyes at once as he walked around the room, was the number of boxes of gold, which was located behind the coffin. Objects of all kinds of styles and origin could be found there, the Mongols were raiding a large area in their best years. Lara approached the treasure seemingly curious but in fact she was looking for something else. _Where could the diary be hidden?_ – the thought crossed her mind as she looked around cautiously.

"Now we are talking." – Nate said. "This was definitely worth the risk." – he stated while he examined the golden objects in his hand. Lara also picked up a golden cup, which was really nice, but probably nowhere near the worn little book that she was looking for. The woman walked around the coffin running her fingers on the side of it. In the meantime she earnestly tried to unobtrusively examine everything. Only remotely she could hear Nate saying something about what Sully would say to all this treasure. She already began to despair that she would not find the diary, when something caught her eyes in the back of the grave. This was the only object which absolutely did not fit into the picture. An elaborate desk was standing in the corner on which contemporary maps were lying. Lara stepped up and started exploring it. Already the maps themselves were very valuable, any museum would have paid fortunes for them, but she was not interested in them. Lara carefully looked back over her shoulder and saw that Nate was still occupied with the crates. This was her only chance, she had to use it. She knelt in front of the table and looked at it from every angle, but she did not find any holes or hidden cases. The only thing that struck her was that the table-top was unusually thick. As she ran her fingers along the edge of it, on the rear side, where her fingers hardly fit in, she suddenly felt a protrusion. Rapidly she pushed it, and a ten times ten-inch plate sprang open on the surface of the desk. Lara watched this masterpiece with amazement. The edges of the small plate could not even be discovered with the naked eye until they opened. She hurriedly opened the top of the hideout, and the diary lay in front of her eyes. It was only a small leather-bound book but for Lara it was of priceless value. This little booklet could have topped years of work. But now there was no time to look at it, she quickly sank it into the backpack, and closed the cover again. As she finished, the table looked just like before. There was no sign that anything was hidden in it.

"What are you doing back there?" – she heard the man's voice behind her, beside the coffin. Lara quickly turned around and flashed a smile.

"Just looking at these maps, they are really unique." – she replied nonchalantly.

"Do not look at the papers, here are the real treasures." – Nate grinned as he raised an interesting round object and then sank it in his bag. Lara watched it with curiosity, she had never seen such a thing before. "I take this with me just to be sure" – he added and grabbed a couple of other things. The woman walked over to him, and for the sake of appearances she packed some remarkable objects in the backpack as well. _At least the cost will be covered, after all we had just blown up in a helicopter_ – she thought to herself.

"I send someone here for the rest." – Lara said. "Do not worry, you will receive your share, I keep my word." – she added looking at the man.

"I did not doubt for a moment." – Nate said confidently.

"The rest is up to you what you do with your share." – she continued.

"Do not worry, they are in good hands. Sully always has more debts than money." – Drake laughed.

:::::::::::

3 days later, Croft Manor...

Lara hardly entered the house and right away she went into the tech room. The backpack landed on a nearby chair, and she threw herself on the couch.

"Good morning to you too." – Bryce said ironically. "How was your journey?" – the man asked. Lara smiled and knew that when she was excited about something, courtesy was not one of her strengths. But Bryce was already accustomed to this and did not take it amiss. Meanwhile, Hilary also appeared in the doorway, holding a tray that was full of all kind of delicacies.

"Welcome home, Lady Croft." – he greeted her in the usual formal manner.

"Hello Hilary. I can see nothing has changed here." – Lara stated.

The butler approached to drop the tray, but Bryce looked at him in a way that changed his mind and put it rather on the other table where Lara was sitting. Bryce had always been obsessed with taking care of the computers, did not allow any food or drink near them.

"How did things go? Judging from your face you were successful." – Bryce spoke again.

"You know me too well." – Lara smiled.

"Then show me." - Bryce looked at her curiously. Lara took her backpack, opened it and pulled forth a small chalice, a necklace and a small statuette. The beautiful objects were lined up in front of her on the table, but the two men did not even notice them. They both waited for the worn booklet that Lara would then raise out of the bag. "So this is it?" – Bryce said watching the diary with interest, which Lara put down in front of him on the table. He carefully opened it and turned some pages around. It was in a surprisingly good condition for its age, probably the hideaway sheltered it from the inevitable destruction caused by time.

"It will take a while to translate this." – the man looked up at Lara. The entire log was written in the ancient Mongolian script, the only vertical script, which had to be read from left to right. This was not one of the languages in which any of them could read, despite the fact that Lara knew many ancient languages.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we will be ready." – Lara replied.

"And what about Drake?" – Bryce asked incidentally.

"What about him? We briefly but emotionally said goodbye to each other and everyone went after his own business." – Lara replied ironically. "He is pleased with the evolution of things and so am I. What more could we want?"

"This means that you managed to hide the diary from him?" – Bryce looked at her.

"Did you doubt this for an instant?" – Lara smiled back. "He has nothing to do with this, he got the treasure he hoped for, Genghis Khan is mine alone." – the woman said while walking out of the room, leaving the man alone with the diary. She went to her room, stretched on the bed and within minutes she was asleep. For the first time in days in a comfortable bed.

It was after five o'clock in the afternoon when Lara opened her eyes. She stretched and enjoyed the comfortable bed for a few minutes still. She loved the adventure but it always felt good to return home. Whoever said it first, he was right: home, sweet home. For a moment she thought of the events of the past few days. It had been quite a big change comparing to the way she had recently spent her days. Suddenly, all this seemed so far away, she could not even understand how she could have behaved so deplorably. It was a miracle that Hilary and Bryce did not slap her in the face, although this idea was perhaps a little exaggerated, given the fact that the two men were her employees, although over the years Lara regarded them rather as friends. She did not know what she would have done if Hilary had not always been there to put hope into her, or Bryce to solve her problems. And now finally her greatest discovery was within reach, she could almost taste the excitement, the usual buzz to hit the road. _This is nice, I was just wondering, how good it is to be home, and now I want to go again_ – she laughed to herself. Finally, she crawled out of the middle of the large bed and threw off her clothes to the floor. _Hilary will freak out_ - the thought crossed her mind but then she convinced herself that she had no time to deal with such things at the moment, and left them on the ground. After a short shower she put on some fresh clothes and went back downstairs. Bryce was found at the same place where she left him in the morning. He was sitting in front of his computers lost in his thoughts, nearly did not notice it when Lara entered the room.

"I scanned the entire diary and launched the program." – he finally looked up at her. "With this we get a rough translation, but probably it will still be a lot of pain to work out the details." – he added.

"How long will the translation run?" – Lara asked.

"This is a very complicated program. First, it will collect the signs from all difference sources and then analyse their location, the sequence, and then ... "

"Bryce!" – she interrupted him impatiently. "Get to the point!"

"So it could take up to several days." – the man confessed.

"Great. And in the meanwhile nothing can be done." – Lara thought. She hated nothing more than waiting. She knew that the solution was right there in front of her and had to wait impatiently for days to find out what was in the booklet. "Let me know when it is done."

:::::::::::

A week later...

The last days were spent quite the same way. Bryce sat in front of the computers, although he did not know why, since he could not influence the program's speed. But the knowledge was soothing for him to be nearby. Lara tried to spend her days usefully and returned to her training program. She spent hours in the gym, riding, swimming, shooting. Meanwhile, she was eagerly searching for any other information to be found out of Genghis Khan. This morning she was in the middle of her usual workout, balancing on top of a column several yards high when Bryce rushed through the door.

"Lara! I think I got the translation." – he cried out, before noticing that the woman was nowhere to be seen. He moved his eyes across the room when he became aware of some movement above his head. Lara lost her balance in surprise and swayed dangerously on the top of the pillar. In the last moment she still jumped off, caught the metallic rod in front of her, swung around it twice, then hopped over to a sloping platform on which she slid down skilfully landing on the ground a few feet in front of Bryce.

"Not bad." – the man praised her in amazement.

"I think I begin to regain my old form. A few weeks ago you would have had to scratch me off the floor." – Lara joked. Although they both knew that this was a slight exaggeration, even in her worst form resolving this situation would have been no problem for her.

"What did you say?" – Lara asked.

"That the translation is ready. If you are still interested." – Bryce looked at her amused.

"Very funny. Let's go." – Lara took her towel and wiped the sweat off from her face.

::::::::

"This is very interesting." - Lara read the text, which appeared in front of her on the monitor. "Could it be that they took the body of the Khan so far away?" – she asked Bryce in surprise. It was incredible that such a venture would not have been recorded. "It says that they were matching forty days and forty nights. Roughly, we can follow their way to the grave." – Lara said and pulled out a map.

"Wait, here he writes that they even splashed down. I have never heard of it, that the Mongols would have sailed." – Bryce said. "It could not have been a long trip according to the description."

"Then this must be one of the small nearby islands." – Lara was thinking out loud.

"It cannot even be so small. Look how far they still went after this." - Bryce pointed to a text piece. They slowly picked up the details from the text, not even standing up from the table the whole day. Hilary appeared from time to time, and brought them lunch or coffee.

Lara bent over the map examining it, trying to determine according to the distance and the description, where the Mongols could have gone. The map was all scrabbled already, they could hardly see what was on it, a lot of lines, circles and other signs covered it. Finally, hours later, Lara had reached a conclusion: it could be only one place.

"This must be it." – Lara pointed to a green spot on the map. "Sri Lanka." – she leaned back in her chair and looked inquiringly at Bryce. The man was not at all sure of anything, it was difficult to follow the text. "It cannot be anywhere else, everything fits together." – Lara added.

"You are the expert. If you say it is there, then it will be there." – Bryce assured her. Lara rubbed her forehead stretching her back.

"One thing disturbs me still. What he writes here at the closing of the tomb. _And then the sun-disk had closed the entrance and disappeared. No one will ever disturb the Khan without the sun_." – she read the rough translation. "What is this sun? Or what does it meant that it was gone?" – she asked Bryce, who looked back at her in the same puzzled way. "I feel bad about this. If we think of Chagatai's grave, there were the eyes, here we have this sun." – Lara continued thoughtfully. "I am afraid that this is again something without which I cannot get into the tomb, but what could it be?"

"There must be some reason for him to call it a sun." – Bryce replied thoughtfully. Lara stood up from her chair and clasped her hands in front of her walking around the table. There was silence for a few minutes, Bryce did not want to interrupt her thoughts. But Lara did not anticipate anything. She was likely to know where the tomb was located, but not the way to get in. The whole thing ghostly resembled to the situation with Chagatai grave. She could only hope that this time it would not take her another three years to find the solution.

Another week has passed without success, meanwhile Lara knew almost the whole diary off book, she had read it thousand times. She knew that she was missing something but could not figure out what it was. The search for all possible metaphor of the sun, all the synonyms, any other meanings brought no success. Lara already started to reach the point that she had no more ideas. Bryce also looked at every possible source, on all the servers he knew but could not find anything.

"I cannot believe that we make no progress, just two steps away from the solution." – she blurted out one afternoon.

"After all, we have been working on this only for two weeks. In such a case this is nothing." – Bryce tried to cheer her up.

"This is not the problem, but that we are not moving. Despite thinking hard for a week on this question, we are right there than at the beginning. And that is what worries me. "- the woman replied. "What do we know about the sun-disc?" – Lara asked this simple question aloud.

"That it is round, yellow and bright." – Bryce said half-jokingly. Lara was not really listening but then something caught her ear.

"What did you say?" – she countered quickly.

"Forget it, I was just kidding." – Bryce said.

"No, no. Say it again." – Lara pushed the issue.

"I said it was round, yellow and bright." – the man complied with her request.

"Exactly." – Lara included mused. "And what is bright and yellow?" - the woman looked at him inquiringly.

"Gold." – Bryce replied almost without thinking. "But we already knew that this something could be an object." – he broke down the enthusiasm. Lara however was lost in her thoughts again. Suddenly she realised it.

"Damn it!" – she exclaimed. Bryce just looked at her in surprise. "I think I know what they mean. The sun is not lost, but someone hid it." – Lara continued. Bryce did not understand anything. But Lara was almost certain that this had to be it, it could not be anything else. The shape of Nathan Drake appeared in front of her eyes holding a disc-shaped object in his hands in Chagatai's grave that Lara had never seen before. "Drake." – she said the name.

"What about him?" – Bryce asked even more surprised.

"He has got the sun-disc." – Lara said.

"What do you mean? How could he have it?" - the man looked at her incredulously.

"It was there in front of me in Chagatai's tomb but that time I had no idea what this was all about. And now he has it. I remember a strange disc-shaped golden object that he took. For a moment I was even thinking what it could have been because I had never seen anything like it." – she explained. "I need to get it back." – she said peremptorily.


	7. Chapter 7

"What is your plan? It will be hard enough if you want to convince Drake to give you this particular disc." – Bryce remarked while trying to collect the papers on the table. Lara was still walking around in circles, lost in her thoughts. Then with a sudden movement she turned back toward the man.

"Who said anything about convincing him?" – she countered with a confident smile on her face. "I do not think that we are so lucky but try to look around on the black market to see if Nate got rid of it and we could obtain it easily." – she gave the orders, while feverishly thinking. Bryce waited a moment to see if she still added anything but as Lara did not speak, he nodded and went back to his computers. This task was no challenge for him, he knew exactly what to do. It was true that these sources were not entirely legal, but Lara knew most of the traders who dealt with anything like this. These were very closed circles, a kind of mutual trust was necessary between the parties, although these were the last people who would have trusted anyone else. Rather, they were mutually dependent on each other. Bryce spent an hour with research, but just as Lara expected he found nothing. No new golden disc-shaped object appeared on the market.

Meanwhile Lara was sitting at the desk in her study, trying to think through all the details. Slowly the plan came into existence in her head, even though it was quite dangerous. The whole thing was very weak, there were a lot of assumptions, and it was easy to fail, but she had to try. She could not afford Genghis Khan to slip out of her hands. She rose from her chair, and deliberately started towards the ground-floor. Lara needed the help of Bryce.

"I could not find anything, just as you thought." – the man said as she entered the room.

"Forget it. I did not expect it anyway." – Lara responded only episodically. "Find out where Drake lives. I must go there." – she added. "But be careful. I do not want him to know that I am looking for him."

"How are you going to meet him, without him knowing that you were there?" - Bryce marvelled.

"I do not want to meet him, that is the point. I will steal the disc from him." – Lara said just as she was talking about the weather. Bryce raised his eyebrows.

"Are you aware how risky this is?" – the man looked at her. "Not only because you could easily be nabbed but also how do you know that he has this thing there and not somewhere else? Or he gave it to this Sullivan?"

"Of course I do not know, but I must try. This is the only chance for me to acquire it." – the woman said.

"Would it not be easier to compromise with him? Still, you do not need to tell him why you want that thing so much." – Bryce raised the point.

"It would be pretty difficult to explain why I insist on it so much. He is not stupid either." - Lara replied and again began to pace the room. She could not sit in one place.

"If you think so." – the man still looked at her doubtfully. "If this fails, you can still try to talk to him."

Lara nodded and left the room. Bryce knew his job now without her. She simply could not understand how she could be so unlucky that again and again she bumped into the same obstacle. Nathan Drake over and over again! Although in the end it was not against her will to work with him, they complemented each other quite well, got along quite fine considering that Lara did not like to work with anyone. The fact would not have even bothered her that the man came into the picture, because he certainly was a pro as well, but this was about something else. Genghis Khan had been haunting her for years, always got over her and Lara wanted this for herself. She did not want to share the glory with anyone, the feeling that finally the great warlord was defeated. She went to her room and prepared her standard equipment. If she started the next morning, there would be still enough time to observe Drake for a while before she did what she planned. Just a couple of hours were needed in the man's apartment. She was becoming more and more certain that if the disk was there, she would get it. _Lara Croft always gets what she wants_ – Nate's words echoed in her head. _And how right he was_ – Lara laughed.

::::::::::

4 days later, Boston...

In the last days Lara was often sitting in a secluded corner of a coffee shop, opposed to the apartment house where Nathan Drake lived. Since arriving in the city, she was watching the man's apartment from different locations to get to know his habits a bit. It appeared the man had spent his days in quite a boring way, but to Lara's greatest satisfaction he disappeared almost every evening towards the city centre for hours. At the moment Lara was just enjoying the afternoon sun at a nearby park, sitting on a bench, seemingly lost in reading the newspaper. Hardly anyone noticed that from behind the paper she was scanning the windows of the apartment with some binoculars.

"Who do I see there?" – she said into the headset. The high-tech device broadcasted live images to the screen in front of Bryce. "Can you see this?" – she asked the man.

"If you mean the woman who just entered the door, then yes. Very pretty." – the man replied.

"And does she not seem familiar?" – Lara asked with a smile, of course, Bryce could not see this.

"Wait a minute, now that you say it ..." – the man was thinking.

"Exactly. This is Dr Alexander's assistant." – Lara was surprised to find out. "I have seen them a few times in some lectures."

"Oops. Is this the Dr Alexander, from whom the document about the eyes originates from?" – Bryce asked back stunned.

"Just as you said. So that is how Drake got the info about the eyes. Very original. Stalk the woman and find out what she knows. It is fortunate that Alexander did not get further and they do not know about Genghis Khan." – she continued, judging the situation more and more interesting. Drake had been able to surprise her still. "I get ready. If he leaves tonight, I will carry out the plan." – Lara announced. "I hope she entertains him for a couple of hours. By the time he comes home, I will have disappeared, hopefully with the disc."

It was nine o'clock, when Drake left the building. He flagged a cab and drove off towards downtown. Lara was only waiting for this, while watching the house from a nearby side road. She directed her binoculars to the windows of the apartment, all was dark inside, she saw no movement. After waiting another quarter hour just to be sure he was not coming back, she slowly walked toward the building. Trying to move unnoticed, she was wearing casual clothes and only had her backpack with. She was sure that getting into the apartment would not be any trouble but she did not know what awaited her inside. Being lucky at least sometimes, someone just came out of the building when she arrived there. Quickly she grabbed the door before it closed and stepped in the hall. The place was not exactly elegant, but it was clean and orderly. After she made sure that there were no security cameras in the building, she pressed the button of the elevator. Lara may have never had such an easy job. On the fourth floor she stepped out of the cabin, and carefully looked around. She tried to reconstruct in her mind, which may have been Drake's door. Watching the names on the doors she walked right into the hallway. She moved quickly and silently. When she noticed the name, she knelt in front of the door, and quickly pulled out two needle-like tools. After some routine gestures, a faint clicking sound could be heard and the door opened quietly. Lara again quickly looked around in the hallway, then entered the apartment. A little surprised she glanced around, this was not the sight she expected. Considering that the man lived alone, everything was rather orderly. The apartment only consisted of a large open living room and a bedroom opening from it, not even a door separating the two places. In the kitchen a few empty plastic boxes were standing, Drake did not seem to care a lot about healthy meals. Lara looked around quickly, but in the living room there was nothing to be seen that would have aroused her interest. Not even pictures hung on the wall. _Where could the safe be?_ – she asked herself. The bedroom was in just as good condition, she was momentarily surprised, she would not have expected this from Drake. On the other side of the bed she discovered a large closet. She went over to the door and opened it. It was not possible to say that the man had been a fashion maniac, not many clothes were found inside. She entered the little room, and moved her flashlight around. Then she noticed the safe in the corner. There was not even an attempt to hide it. Her fingers ran over the front of the safe, while trying to assess the odds. It did not appear to be a simple task.

"I think I have found it." – she whispered in the headset. "Although it will not be as an easy job as I thought." – Lara added.

"I told you not to choose this path." – Bryce fussed.

"I think it is a bit too late to think about this." – Lara said.

"It is never too late. You can still walk out from there, as if nothing had happened." – Bryce suggested.

"I thought you knew me better than that." – Lara said with mock frustration in her voice.

"Then get to work as soon as possible." – Bryce knew that there was no chance to dissuade Lara from this action.

"Are you ready? I scupper the safe." – Lara told him.

From the backpack she took out a small but very powerful drill. Bryce did not even try to figure out where Lara got this professional burglar equipment from. But even with this device it was a very difficult task, she was getting forward very slowly. Drake apparently assured himself. Lara was only able to hope that her efforts would not be in vain. For a moment it occurred to her, that this was not a very nice thing to do, but she reassured herself that Drake got a big enough part of the loot that he could live without this one piece. It took her almost an hour to drill deep enough, breaking three drill heads in the process. Lara packed away the tools in her bag. She took a small mobile camera and introduced the thin wire through the hole.

"Do you get this, Bryce?" – she asked the man.

"Loud and clear." - Bryce reported back. "Give me some time, I need to look more closely at the structure."

"Time is what we do not have." – Lara answered impatiently. She just wanted to add something when a faint noise struck her ears. The steps came closer and closer on the corridor, silent laughter joined them. The key started to clatter in the lock and she distinctly heard Drake's voice talking to a woman. _Damn it_ – Lara was cursing. _They had to come back exactly now_. She quickly gathered her things and shut the wardrobe door. There was no chance to escape, she could only hope that in this situation Drake would not come to the cupboard. Lara was trapped. Her only chance was to wait until he left or fell asleep, and then sneak out of the flat.

"I really only come up for a drink." – she heard the woman's voice. _I should have known that Drake wants to bring the woman here, if he cleaned up the apartment so much_.

"Do not say this, Lizzy. The night is still young." – he answered absent-mindedly. Lara raised her eyebrows. _You have no chance Nate_ – she thought, smiling.

A moment of silence made Lara conclude that Nate swung into action. Stumbling steps approached toward the bedroom, Lara pulled herself even more in the corner, while she was getting more and more annoyed. She could only hope that she did not have to enjoy the whole show from there.

"But Nate" – the woman chuckled again. "Do not do this. I really have to get to the university very early tomorrow."

"Come on, the university does not run away." – Nate replied in a husky voice. Lara rolled her eyes. _Crap. Try something better, Drake!_ – she thought. For a while nothing was to be heard again. Finally, it seemed as though the woman won, Nate sighed quite resignedly. "You cannot do this to me that you leave me alone." – he tried for a last time. But she was surprisingly strong, and walked out of the bedroom. Nate followed. Again long silence. _It is hard to say goodbye_ - Lara thought grimacing.

"Do I see you tomorrow?" – the man asked.

"We will see." – the woman played with him. "I will call you." – then she walked away, her footsteps faded away, as she disappeared. The door closed, and from the approaching steps Lara concluded that Nate was back in the bedroom. After a short silence, the bed creaked as he stretched himself on it. Lara was highly concentrated to catch the small noises, which disclosed what was happening. She had no chance to open the safe anymore, but at least she wanted to vanish without a fuss. Quietly she took some sticky substance out of her bag and smeared it into small hole on the safe. _Nate will not even notice that I was here_. _I will be back_ - she decided. Then music hit her ears, which suddenly switched to talking, then more music, and finally a commentator shouted aloud. _Damn, that is what I still needed_ – Lara thought as soon as she realized that Nate was surfing the TV channels. She took a deep breath to hold back her frustration. Would she have to sit in the closet for hours? Leaning her back against the wall she closed her eyes for a moment. The time seemed to have stopped. She did not know how much time passed, it could have been hours. Finally the room went silent and she could only hear that the man nestled on the bed. Lara raised her head, maybe now her time had come. She waited for a while still just to make sure Nate was sleeping. His breathing became slow and smooth. Lara quietly rose, and with her backpack in the hands she opened the door of the cupboard to a crack. In the darkness she could not see much, she could only make out the silhouette of the man in the moonlight filtering from outside. Lara tiptoed towards the door, now glad that she was not wearing her usual heavy boots. Carefully she sneaked beside the bed, while not taking her eyes off it. Only the man's breathing could be heard, all was peaceful and calm. Lara froze for a moment, as Nate moved, but he only turned over to the other side. The woman even held her breath for a moment, then slowly moved on, heading out of the room. Her left leg was just touching the ground when the floor suddenly creaked under her foot. The sound was as loud in the silence as a bomb. At least Lara felt so. She came to a halt and the thought crossed her mind that now that was it but nothing happened. She already had her back to the bed, but did not hear that the man had stirred up. Not daring to risk turning around she continued her way. At that moment, however, the room was flooded by light. At least, the light of the small lamp next to the bed was very strong after the darkness. Lara's back stiffened in mid-gesture, and waited to see what happens. She knew that there was no chance to disappear.

Nate was lying on the bed, his back settled loosely against the back rest, watching the motionless figure in front of his bed with a grin on his face.

"Lady Lara Croft." – he said with pleasure in his voice. "Who would have thought that I see you again like this." – he added with a grin. Lara swallowed a curse. She could imagine his face how much he enjoyed the situation. But Lara still did not turn around, perhaps several minutes passed this way, each waiting to see what the other planned. "To what do I owe this visit so late at night?" – Nate asked.

Lara was thinking frantically, cursing within that she did not prepare for the possibility of being caught, did not find out some plausible story, what she was looking for in the man's apartment in the middle of the night on another continent. Although she thought that there could not be a lot of able-bodied explanation given. Then she said what first came to her mind and she knew that at least there was a chance that the man would believe it.


	8. Chapter 8

"Would you believe it if I said that I could not get you off my mind in the last two weeks?" – Lara said slowly, in a droning voice. The silence convinced her that she was right. The man may not have believed her completely but at least made thoughts about the possibility. She could hear Nate getting up and walking towards her. Lara finally turned around and looked up at him, while a little smile was hiding in the corner of her mouth. Nate stood in front of her, wearing only jeans and a white t-shirt. She could see that he was observing her, he could not decide what to think. Now she had to continue if she did not want to get nabbed. Her fingers slipped to the man's chest and were gently playing on the thin material, while she slowly pushed him back towards a chair. Nate did not protest, yielded to the pressure and slowly stepped back, and then dropped to the chair as his feet bumped into it. His eyes scanned the body of a woman who now was standing in front of him only a few inches away. But he did nothing, waited to see what Lara wanted. The thoughts were racing through Lara's head, she was frantically thinking how to get out of this situation. In no way did she want to go too far.

"I thought ..." – she continued, as she slowly came closer and sat down on the man's lap, face to face with him - "maybe ...I surprise you" – she leaned toward him, their faces were only inches away from each other. Lara knew she was on the right track, she felt Nate getting increasingly under her influence. The man's hands slipped over her thighs and eventually rested on her hips. Lara came to a halt for a moment but there was no way back, although Nate began to enjoy the situation a little bit too much. Her lips slowly approached his, but stopped in the last minute in the air teasing him a bit, then she abruptly pulled away.

"But it seems to me, that I came here in vain because you are doing just fine without me." – she said suddenly in a normal voice, and lifted from the man's lap. Nate was apparently surprised by the unexpected shift. Without waiting for the man's reaction, Lara turned around and walked toward the door. She was halfway when Nate spoke out.

"Wait!" - She heard the man's voice behind her. Lara paused for a moment, closing her eyes and silently cursed to herself, that again she failed to disappear. She felt that the man came up behind her, grabbed her hand and gently turned her around.

"If you are already here, it would really be a pity to miss this great opportunity." – Nate smiled as he hugged her waist and pulled her close. Lara once again found herself only inches away from the man. For a moment they only looked at each other, then Nate reached down and ran his lips along the woman's neck barely touching her skin, up to her ears. Lara forgot about herself for a fraction of a moment but the man's voice in her ear quickly brought her back to senses.

"This was a really seductive attempt but would you finally tell me what the hell you are doing here?" – Nate whispered. Lara snatched up her head and angrily pushed him away, looking back at him with surprise and anger, while he was very amused, watching her with a grin. The look on her face was simply priceless. "All along I knew you were bluffing." – he added, laughing.

"Then why the hell are you playing with me?" - Lara growled angrily.

"I think you deserved that much. Just so that you do not think that you can achieve everything with your charm." – Nate retorted. If a look could kill then Nate would not have lived much longer. "Be happy you did not try this with Sully, because he only would have said anything in the morning." – he laughed more.

"Go to hell, Nate!" – Lara exclaimed.

"Hey, do not be angry with me for having been caught." – he was still grinning. Accompanied by an angry glance the woman grabbed her purse from the ground, and strode toward the door, but Nate stepped in front of her and blocked her path.

"What do you want?" – Lara tried to push him away.

"You still have not told me what you are doing here." – he looked at her with a serious face.

"Never mind, I was wrong." - Lara said with a piercing look.

"But I think, whatever it is, it must be very important to you, if you sneaked in my apartment for it. Should I start guessing?" – the man asked.

"Let me go!" – the woman commanded.

"As you wish." – Nate replied, while meekly stepped aside. "Then give me a call, in case you change your mind." – he added in passing. Lara's hand stopped on the latch, she took a deep breath and was hesitating for a short while. When she turned back, Nate was sitting on the same chair at the table as before.

"I need something that you have." – Lara said finally.

"Oh, now we are getting somewhere." – Nate raised his eyebrows. "Sit down." – he pointed to a chair next to him. Lara walked over and sat down reluctantly. "What are we talking about?"

"That golden disc." – Lara said.

"Is this about another treasure hunt? Let me hear the details!" – Nate said enthusiastically.

"Look, this is about something else. For me this means a lot ... " – Lara began but the man interrupted her.

"Yes, I know. The glory. I thought we were already through this." – Drake said. Slowly he stood up, walked into the bedroom, then returned a few minutes later and put the disk on the table in front of Lara. "Here, it is yours."

Lara looked at him surprised, she would not have thought that the man would succumb so easily. While the whole situation started to become a little uncomfortable, Lara did not feel at all as if she had won. She was just about to reach out for it when the silence of the night was broken by a loud noise. The window glass exploded into thousands of pieces as the bullet hit it. Then, the first shell was followed by hundreds of others, the red laser beam was flashing around them. They were barely able to throw themselves on the ground. Bursting objects were fluttering all over their heads, almost nothing in the room was left in one piece.

"I do not believe it." – Lara shouted. "I would have an idea who is shooting at us."

Quickly they crept to the door, Nate took the car keys, and they jumped out to the hallway. "Crap. We have to leave immediately!" – Nate said nervously.

"Wait! The disc" - Lara pulled him back. "We cannot leave without it. You get the car, I go and get the disc." – she added and quickly disappeared behind the door. Nate did not even have time to protest, so he quickly walked towards the staircase. _Things just start to look great again _– he smiled to himself, while he ran down.

Nate nervously drummed with his fingers on the steering wheel. _Where the hell is she? _– he thought while looking around anxiously. He knew that there was not much time, Johansson's men could not be far. He did not understand how they were found again, or even why? Over the last two weeks he had seen no sign that anyone would have followed him. At that moment the door of the building opened and Lara burst out of it. She quickly looked around, then glimpsed the car. At the same time a dark sedan struck in the street at the corner, the headlights dazzled Lara for a moment, as the light fell on her face.

"Get in." – Nate shouted from the car. Lara jumped into the passenger seat, while he pushed the throttle up to the hilt. The wheels were spinning smoking, and the car shot out to the street. A shot was fired, the rear window of the car splintered apart as they passed next to the limousine. Lara snatched her head back, and saw their persecutors making a U-turn with grinding wheels and hurried after them.

"I see you still did not manage to shake off Johansson." – Lara noted ironically.

"Do you not think that they might follow you, not me?" – Nate asked back, while he switched back and overtook a van. Lara thought about this for a moment, but would it have been possible that she was followed and would not have noticed it?

"Step on the gas, Nate! Otherwise we do not get far." – Lara said to the man, as the limousine was getting closer to them. He turned left and headed towards a narrow alley, where the car would either pass through or not. Lara hesitated for a moment, but now there was no turning back. Instinctively they huddled themselves up, although they both knew that this made no difference, as the front of the car was dangerously approaching the walls. The wall of the alley scratched along the entire side the car with loud creaks, the metal was sputtering as it touched the stones, the two side mirrors broke down with a crash. As they reached the end of the short alley, Nate slipped to a main road with a powerful right turn, and started to rush among the cars with a high speed. But he could not shake off the other car. Another shot was fired, however in the huge noise they only realised it as the projectile hit the dashboard. They both instinctively pulled aside.

"We must shake them off and get to the airport as quickly as possible." – Lara shouted, while spinning her head sometimes ahead, sometimes behind. "They are coming from the right" – she cried at Nate.

"I can see it" – the man said nervously, while having no other choice he pulled the car over to the oncoming lane. Angry honking indicated their way, as the cars coming from the opposite direction tried to avoid them. "Try to do something!" – Nate suggested. He retracted the vehicle to the right side, all over the three lanes with one move, and in the last minute veered about the exit, which led to the highway. Several cars skidded with smoking tires and stopped across the road, but the sedan was still able to follow them. Nate stepped on the gas even more, but the old car could not go any faster. He honked angrily to a driver in front of them, which did not want to pull over from the outer line.

"Move on idiot!" – he screamed at the driver. At the first possibility he pulled the wheel to the right and overtook the vehicle glancing angrily to the driver. The sedan moved closer to them again, as they were forced to slow down. Another series of bullets were launched, but this time they only decorated the back side of the trunk with patterns of holes. There were only ten miles from the airport, they had to do something. Lara reached down to her backpack and pulled out a gun.

"You got a gun?" – Nate wondered. "Why the hell have you not used it so far?" – he looked at her incredulously.

"I am basically a pacifist." – Lara replied sarcastically. The sedan was now dangerously close, the woman saw the determined look on the faces of their persecutors. "Pull over to the left! I cannot see the tires like this." – she said to Nate. Lara raised the gun, a smile spread on her lips as she saw the surprise on the faces of the men in the other car. "Say goodbye, guys!" – she looked into the driver's eyes, then pulled the trigger. The front tire as good as exploded, the driver was dragging the wheel desperately but had no chance to retain control over the vehicle. The sedan spun around, drifted on the edge of the road, and then flipped over several times in the air, and finally landed in the ditch upside down.

"Nice shot." – Nate praised her as they were getting away from the scene. He took one last look at the car in the rear-view mirror, but did not see anything moving.

"There is the exit!" – Lara shouted. "We need to get the private planes, not to the regular terminal." – she added seeing Nate's surprised face.

"Of course, I should have known." – Nate taunted. "A lady does not travel on charter flights." – he added. Lara only grimaced in his direction.

They stopped in the parking lot, the car made a pitiful sight. Along the two sides the paint was missing, the doors were all battered, one of the side mirror was hanging lifeless off the side, the back of the boot was riddled with bullets, the left rear window was completely absent, only a few fragments remained in place indicated that they ever existed.

"Sully will not be happy about with." – Nate said as he scratched the top of his head. "He only gave me the car for a few days."

"You will buy him another one from the loot." – Lara replied casually. Nate raised his eyebrows and looked at her in amazement.

"I thought you wanted to do this alone. What about the glory?" – he inquired.

"I just cannot leave you here so that Johansson catches you." – Lara shrugged. "But do not draw hasty conclusions from this" – she sent a cutting glance toward him, then started off to the building with her backpack in her hands.

_Of course_ – Nate thought smiling and went after her.

They passed through the security check, which was quite easy. Lara had prepared in advance and had a document ready, which proved to be an official permission to transfer a rare artefact to London.

"It seems to me, you do not leave anything to chance." – Nate looked at her. "What happened to the gun? Did you have permission for this as well?"

"I left it in the car. Even I am not allowed to carry around anything at an airport."- Lara smiled.

"What do you mean? I thought you and your guns were inseparable." – Nate joked.

"It is pretty logical that if I cannot bring a gun out of the country, then I also could not have brought them in. I acquired this one here, mines are on the plane." – Lara looked back defiantly.

"Okay, I give up. You have an explanation for everything." – he laughed.

In the meantime they left the building, and were approaching a small graceful private jet. The tail of the machine was decorated with the large C, otherwise there were no other markings on it. Nate whistled approvingly, as the door dropped down and they climbed slowly inside.

"Do not tell me that you will fly this one, too." – he joked.

"Why?" Do you not trust me?" – the woman countered with a serious face. Nate raised his eyebrows and looked at her incredulously. "Do not worry, I am just kidding." – Lara laughed and headed toward the seats. Nate shook his head as he followed her, and then sat down opposite her in a comfortable leather armchair. In a short time the captain appeared and greeted them.

"Welcome on board again, Lady Croft. What is the destination this time?" – the man looked at her inquiringly.

"Captain White, this is Nathan Drake. He will join us for a while." – she introduced them to each other. "We must leave immediately, our destination is Colombo, Sri Lanka." - Lara commanded.

"All right, I take prompt action. As soon as I get clearance, we can start." – the captain said, and left them alone.

"Sri Lanka?" - Nate looked at her inquiringly.

"I will explain everything, we will have plenty of time on the way." – Lara replied, and leaned back comfortably in her seat.


	9. Chapter 9

Once they safely left the airport, Lara's first task was to call Bryce.

"We are en route to our destination." - the woman said.

"You and who?" - the man countered with amazement.

"Oh yes, Drake is here with me. I decided to take him with me." - Lara said. Nate looked at her inquiringly from the other seat. _Sure, she decided it. __Incredible, this woman_ - he thought. But Lara did not bother with this at the moment. "See to it, that we have a vehicle on the spot. We will talk about the rest when we arrive." – she added.

Lara took the headset out of her ears and put it on the table. She turned her head to the side and looked out of the window, but did not much in the dark of the night. Although she always loved this scene, as the machine flew over the clouds. It soothed her. After a while, however, she noticed that Nate was still watching her. Then she remembered that she promised an explanation for everything that happened. She bent down and took out the diary from her bag, which was lying at her feet. Carefully she put it on the desk located between them and then slowly pushed it over to the man.

"This is what I was looking for." - Lara said while their eyes met. Nate was still trying to read the expression on her face but Lara did not reveal much. The man reached out for the booklet, and took it in his hands. After turning around some pages he looked up at her.

"This is really fascinating but I hope you do not expect that I can read this. Would you let me in what is in it? I guess that you have already deciphered it if you are here." - he said, smiling. Lara still waited for a second, then started with the story.

"This is a diary, which was written during the construction of the tomb. It took me three years to find out where it was hiding. But then I bumped into the problem with the eyes. But I guess I do not need to go into details on this. The main thing is that I was finally able to obtain this description ... "

"That you have successfully concealed from me, just for the record." - the man interrupted.

"A woman has her little secrets" - Lara shrugged innocently. "Try to move on from the past." - she added with a smile. Nate just rolled his eyes to indicate that he was waiting for the continuation. "It took us two weeks to translate the text and pick up the details. Finally I came to the conclusion that the tomb must be on Sri Lanka. And here comes what I did not expect."

"I guess that is where the disc comes into the picture." - Nate said. "That you also wanted to obtain in a very creative way." - he looked at her with some reprehension in his voice.

"Nothing personal, business is business." - Lara said smiling. "But you must understand, I spent years on this, and this is mine." - she added, this time seriously.

"And what are you afraid of? That I knock you down and steal the treasure?" - Nate asked thoughtfully.  
"I want to solve the mystery, I am not interested in the treasure." - Lara replied firmly. Nate looked at her as she sat in front of him, her face resolute.

"Now there is only one thing you have not told me yet." - Nate said. "Whose grave are talking about here?"

Lara smiled knowingly. She was waiting for this question and was sure of it that the answer would have its effect.

"Genghis Khan, of course." - she said at last, enjoying the spectacle, as Nate's eyebrows raised slowly and wonder spread across his face.

"Well, now I understand why you want this for yourself. If the legend is true, there is an incredible treasure in the tomb. Of course, accordingly, it is almost impossible to get in. But if you have the description, it will be easy." - the man said.

"I must disappoint you, but the diary does not talk about the interior of the tomb. A foreman wrote it, but he was only involved in the works outside. All I know is where to find the entrance but from there we are absolutely in the dark." - Lara said and returned the diary in her satchel.

"Now one more thing I do not understand. You have the disc, why have you brought me with you?" - Nate asked looking curiously at Lara. The woman was a little surprised by the question but she did not show it.

"It seems I do not have an explanation for everything. Be glad you are here." – she replied, while trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. Nate looked at her for a few seconds, then smiled.

"Admit it that you loved it last time." - Nate looked at her maliciously. Lara's mouth slowly turned into a smile and defiantly looked back at the man.

"Keep dreaming." – she replied absently, then leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. "Once we get there, we start right away. Rather go to sleep." – she added before she fell asleep.

::::::::::::::::

The aircraft approached the landing gracefully, the wheels were smoking as they touched the concrete surface. A slight bump indicated to the passengers that they landed. Lara was awake long time ago, she was thinking feverishly about her plans. She looked at the man sitting on the opposite seat, who was still asleep, and pondered for a moment on what he had previously said. Perhaps she really had nothing against it anymore that he took part in the adventure? This idea was strange to her, she did not know what to do with it. After all, she would not be here without him now, she would have drowned in the trap. But who knows what would have happened if things had developed differently. If they never bumped into each other, if she had been faster that time and Nate had not even obtained the first eye from her, if they had not run into the trap, if, if, if ... It was unnecessary to think about these things, the past could not be changed. Not that Lara really wanted this anyway. Actually, the developments filled her with satisfaction so far. _We will see_ - she thought. She rose from the chair, as the machine stopped, and shook the man's shoulder.

"Come on, sleepy head. We are here." – she told him jokingly. Nate woke up and looked around in amazement for a moment but then he quickly realised where he was. Lara went to a cupboard and opened it.

"Nice collection." - Nate said behind her, as he joined. The woman took two machine guns, her usual dual pistol and also gave one to him.

The heat almost hit them in the face when they left the aircraft, the humidity was unbearable. The jeep was already there waiting for them at the exit. This time, Lara did not even give him a chance, she got behind the wheel and drove off when the man had not even closed the door. There was no time to waste.

:::::::::::::::::

The jeep was shaking heavily on the bad roads of the jungle. If indeed they could have been called roads at all. They were jolting along for hours already, Lara knew exactly where she wanted to go. According to her calculations they were able to drive along almost the whole way and only had to walk the last section, where otherwise it was impossible to get to the higher parts.

"What is your plan?" - Nate asked while he was highly concentrated not to bite his tongue while talking.

"We have to find the entrance, and then we will see. It must be in the north-east part of the mountains. The easiest way is to go around this area." – she pointed to the map, which was spread all over the dashboard. Nate just wanted to add something about it when Lara raised her hand to warn him.

"Tell me, Bryce!" - the woman said.

"I think there is a problem." - she heard his voice in the headset. "I see quite serious movements in the area where you are heading." - he said.

"What kind of movement?" - Lara asked back in amazement.

"The satellite images show major forces, a camp-side and a lot of vehicles in the area. I think only one man can be considered who has anything to look for in this area with so many people." - Bryce said anxiously.

"Johansson! But this is impossible." – Lara noted. "How did he get here? Only the two of us knew about the description."

"I have no idea." - he replied in astonishment.

"Find it out." - Lara commanded. "Meanwhile, a little change in the plan and we will walk a little more. I do not want to risk to be noticed. Thus, the task has become considerably more difficult." - Lara added.

"What happened? How did Johansson get here again? "- Nate tried to get the hang of the conversation.

"I have no idea, but according to Bryce he has many people in the area. We need to be careful. He cannot get hold of the disc." - Lara pulled the wheel to the side and steered the car into the dense undergrowth until it almost completely disappeared from sight.

"As I see another vehicle is destined to remain in the jungle. But perhaps this one will be good for something one day as well." - Nate said jokingly. Lara just sent a withering look in his direction as she was getting out and they started off in the specified direction into the woods. The walk was not exactly pleasant, the terrain kept various challenges for them, the air almost burnt their windpipes, their clothes clung to their bodies with sweat. Lara stopped, panting for a moment and took a sip from her water bottle. She raised her face, and sprinkled the rest of the water on herself. They were only about halfway to their destination. Nate threw himself on a tree trunk beside her, and stretched out his legs.

"Truly a pleasant climate, I have been missing this." – he said ironically. Lara, however, noticed something else. At first it was only a faint sound, but she was more and more confident that she heard it well. Suddenly she walked towards the trees, when Nate raised his head, she already disappeared from sight. The man jumped up and followed, but even so it took a couple of minutes before he found her again. By then, Lara was standing up to her waist in the small clear-watered lake, which revealed in front of Nate's eyes. For a moment he gazed at the woman who sprinkled herself with enthusiasm. Only her shorts and her bra were covering her body, the weapons, the backpack and the heavy boots were lying at the shore of the lake.

"What are you waiting for? We cannot spend much time here." – she said, when she saw that Nate was still standing on the shore leaning against a tree. "Feel free to come in, I am not shy" - she added defiantly.

"It would be a pity to hide this body anyway." - he muttered more to himself as he watched her. Slowly he moved closer, pulling off his shirt and then dipped it into the water and washed his face. In the meantime Lara was already heading out of the water, she walked over to her clothes and sat down in the grass. Nate watched her, trying to figure out if she intentionally behaved this way with him, but all seemed so natural.

"What is it? What are you looking at so much? "- Lara asked, laughing. "I suppose you have already seen a woman from closer." - she added a bit sarcastically.

"You know what they say about black underwear?" - Nate countered in a malicious tone. "Women wear them if they want them to be removed."

"And since when are you such a big underwear expert?" - Lara looked back at him defiantly. However Nate did not answer but put on his wet shirt again. It gave him a nice cool feeling after the burning rays of the sun, although he was reasonably certain that the effect would not last long. "Would you make this wet for me?" - Lara threw her shirt over to him, while tying her boots in the grass. Nate dipped it in water and threw it back to her intentionally without having wrenched it. "You will get this back." - Lara promised, as she wiped off the water from her face but Nate just laughed. She put on the shirt again, which clung exciting to her body. Nate just shook his head smiling, as they continued back into the woods.

::::::::::::::::

After another hour of struggling to walk through the thick undergrowth, Nate stopped putting his finger in front of his mouth, indicating to the woman. His hand pointed somewhere in front of him on the left side where Lara then saw a soldier's head, who was standing not much farther down the path.

"I will get him." - Nate whispered suddenly.

"Wait!" - Lara tried to stop him but it was too late. The man disappeared from sight. However, Lara had a bad feeling as she ran after him.

Nate crept in behind the man, however, failed to properly grab his neck, and he gave one final cry, before he had collapsed. Suddenly, two other mercenaries stepped out of the thicket, Nate began to fire. Lara winced at the sound, as she ran after him, somehow she knew that this would not go of well. Inside she was cursing Nate's thoughtlessness. _Why the hell does he have to just pull a gun all the time? Men_ – the thought ran through her mind.

One of the soldiers collapsed as Nate hit him, but the other jumped for cover and began firing towards him. He had just jumped behind a thick tree trunk when Lara arrived to the scene.  
"Watch out!" - the man shouted, when a bullet was drawn only a few inches away from her head. Another two soldiers appeared among the trees, then another small team joined them. After a few minutes the couple was seriously outnumbered.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?" - Lara cursed him when she came up beside him. "We need to get out of here immediately." – she was looking around nervously. Nate fired back, but as a response at least twenty bullets struck into the tree near them. "They are at least twenty people, our only chance is to run." - Lara shouted at him. He grabbed the man's arm and began to pull him in the opposite direction. The following drift of bullets convinced the man too, and they were running at full extent who knows where. The leaves whipped into their faces, they jumped over tree trunks while glimpsing backwards constantly observing if the soldiers followed them. Lara came to a halt, panting, Nate almost crashed into her. For a moment, they were listening, but they still heard the noise of the soldiers behind them. After a quick change of direction they kept running, trying to minimize the trace left behind. All noise grew louder around them, the leaves whispered fearfully, as if the birds had been shouting. Nate stopped, and leaned forward supporting his arms on his knees. Lara also tried to catch her breath, which seemed even more difficult if possible, than before. But it seemed that the mercenaries have lost them because they did not hear their voices behind them anymore. They both started to move more cautiously now, taking care to keep quiet. As the tension of the situation slowly resolved, Lara became increasingly angry.

"What the hell was that?" – she went for Nate. "Do you want to get us killed?"

"I am sorry, but I thought that I can quietly settle the guy ..." - the man tried to explain.

"You thought so? Well, that's great. It does not matter that now a small army is chasing us? What if you try to think a bit before pulling your gun?" - Lara kept jabbing. Nate was almost speechless, after a while he gave up the attempt and let the woman get rid of her anger. Actually he was having a good time watching her with pleasure as she scolded and complained about anything that came to her mind. "I really do not understand what is wrong with you men. You get us shot and then that was it about the disc and the whole thing." - Lara went on vehemently. Nate was only ambling after her, sometimes trying to imitate her by pulling faces. After a while he came to a halt and stood there without making a move. Lara was a couple of feet ahead of him when she noticed. Nervously she looked back. "What is it now? Why are you stopping? "- she looked at him fixedly. But Nate did not respond. Lara slowly walked back up while words were continuously pouring out of her. "I hope you are not getting peeved now just because I mention that I do not want to be shot." – she stopped in front of him. The man just looked at her with an expression that Lara had no idea what he had on his mind. The next moment the man's arm folded around her waist and pulled her close. All Lara realised was that his lips closed over hers, and she had no idea why she did not do anything against it. She did not even have time to protest. Just as fast as the whole thing started, the man suddenly let go off her again and just grinned. Lara was speechless.

"Just wanted to know if only you can only quarrel with such a passion or something else too." - Nate teased her. "But that is not bad either." - he added laughing, while he walked down the path leaving the astonished woman behind.

Lara was almost speechless with surprise, but then her anger broke to the surface. She just wanted to go after the man when she heard the worried voice of Bryce in her ear again.

"Lara! Get away from there immediately!" - the man shouted.

"What is it? What happened?" - Lara countered.

"Maybe it is already too late, the soldiers are approaching from every directions. They are closing in on you." – he said anxiously.

"Why did you not tell me sooner?" – Lara jabbered, though it was completely irrelevant now.

"Something was wrong with the satellite, the picture has just been updated. I am sorry." - he apologised. Lara raised her head, as not so far away voices assailed her ears. Immediately she forgot about everything else that was on her mind. She acted as quickly as lightning. Then she ran to Nate, grabbed his arm and they ran as fast as they could. But they did not get very far, when the barrels of a number of machine guns were staring at them from the bushes. Lara took a deep breath but having no other options she held up her arms. The situation was hopeless.


	10. Chapter 10

Nate still took a hesitant step forward but he quickly realized that there was no chance. More and more soldiers came forward from the woods, the barrels of their guns were staring at them coldly.

"Put your hands behind your head!" – they heard the rough voice of the leader, as he stepped forward from the background. Looking at them coldly, he called over to one of the gunmen.

"Search him!" – he pointed firmly at Nate. The soldier came up, and quickly searched him, taking away his weapons.

"That is all he had with him." – he showed a thin golden plate that was hanging on a chain. Lara gave it a quick glance, but it did not seem familiar to her. The boss picked up on the chain, briefly examined the pendant, and then pocketed it. Meanwhile, the armed man came over to Lara to search her too but the leader interrupted him.

"Stop! She is mine." – he said with pleasure in his voice as he looked over the woman. Lara looked back at him fixedly, firmly holding his gaze. The man came up behind her and ran his hands on her side, savouring every moment. He took her pistols from the holsters and spoke out sarcastically.

"Nice ones. I think I keep these with me." - he said, while leaning over close to Lara's face. Nate made a move towards him but the machine guns pushed against his side made him quickly change his mind. The guy only called over to him sharply.

"Relax, dude. You had your chance to get the girl, why did you not use it?" – he laughed coldly as he stepped in front of Lara and went on with the search. The rest of the mercenaries looked at him with envy. Once he stroked over her thighs, the man rose and stood close in front of the woman, who was still tolerating the search rigidly. Their eyes met for a moment. Lara smiled enigmatically, knowing that the man would not have the time to react anymore. As fast as lightning she stroke her head ahead hitting the guy hard in the face, who cried out in pain, as he touched his broken nose, that began to bleed heavily.

"Goddammit!" – he began to swear loudly. On his sign a soldier came up behind Lara, and she only felt a dull blow to the head. From the distance she still heard that Nate exclaimed, before all went dark in front of her eyes and she fell to the ground.

:::::::::::::::

Lara!... Lara ...! – she heard from the distance that someone was calling her name. Slowly she was coming back to her sense, her head was aching, her limbs were stiff. She opened her eyes and blinked to clear her vision. Nathan Drake's face began to emerge in front of her as he anxiously looked at her and tried to wake her. _I hope this does not start to become a habit now that Drake looks back at me, every time I wake up somewhere_ - the thought passed through her mind. She still clearly remembered that the same view welcomed her when he saved her narrowly from drowning.

"Where the hell are we?" - Lara groaned out trying to massage her neck, but her hands did not obey. In that moment she realized that her arms were tied behind a chair and she could not move. She tugged the shoulder to be able to escape but the movement was only rewarded with a sharp pain.

"I think in Johansson's camp, but I have not seen anyone. It has been slowly an hour that we are sitting here tied up." – Nate replied. "Are you okay?" – he asked with concern in his voice.

"I am fine. Never better." – Lara muttered ironically. Looking around the small room, she was not really able to decide where they were. Maybe it was a fast-built cottage. Around them, there was almost nothing to be seen, only the two metal chairs were placed in the middle of the room facing each other. Then she glimpsed her backpack, which was lying on a table not far from them. Suddenly everything cleared up in her head, as if she just came back to her sense completely. "I hope you remember which way they brought us here" – she suddenly said to Drake, who was sitting just a few feet away, in front her on another chair in a somewhat awkward position. But he could not answer, because then the door opened, and Johansson himself entered in the company of five armed men with a wide grin on his face but this smile was anything but friendly.

"Ms Croft! I am so glad that you are back with us. Finally I meet you in person after such a long time." – he said cheerfully, as if it was a tea party.

"I hope you'll excuse me if I do not say that the pleasure is all mine." - Lara snapped casually, as she tried to move on the chair, with little success. Johansson walked along between the two of them, with the slowest possible pace. His eyes scanned his prisoners with confidence.

"Mr Drake and you caused me a lot of trouble lately." – he said while he crossed his arms on the chest.

"We do what we can." – Nate threw it back at him without thinking. Johansson only smiled coolly.

"I am glad you still feel like joking, Mr Drake." – Johansson looked at him. He walked over to the broad wooden table, and with a single move he poured the contents of Lara's bag on the top of it. The few things landed rattling on the table, a grenade rolled to the edge, and then dropped down in the dust. For a moment the soldiers were startled too, but nothing happened. Johansson dug into the pile, and became increasingly nervous. He picked up the diary, but then, without any interest he threw it back on the table. Nate looked questioningly at Lara with surprise on his face, but she gave him a glance telling him that he should not say anything.

"Where is it?" – Johansson said in a measured voice, as he turned towards them.

"What are you talking about?" – Lara looked at him innocently.

"You are playing with the wrong person, Lady Croft." – Johansson said dryly. "I do not know what you expect, but forget about it. I noticed already that you are a very smart woman, but you will not get away from me once again."

In the meantime Lara was thinking feverishly. According to all indications Johansson knew about the disc, he was not even interested in the diary or its contents. But how? Unfortunately, the man was right, and their situation really did not look too rosy. If Johansson was aware what was in the diary, he would not believe her that she had no idea where the disc was. Lara did not yet see the way out, but she did not intend to give up everything so close to her goal. She leaned back on the chair, and moved her neck.

Johansson stood up and walked towards Lara. He stopped directly in front of her, his tall figure loomed over her, as she looked up from her chair.

"I give you half an hour, think about it. If you give me the disc now, both of you can leave unharmed." – he said emphasizing each word. Lara was holding his gaze.

"And what if I do not?" – she countered.

"Let's not talk about such unpleasant things for the moment" – he snapped while heading for the door, and without looking back he walked out. The mercenaries followed him, Lara and Nate were again left alone in the room. Nate could hardly wait for them to disappear, he looked excited at Lara.

"Now I ask you the same: where is the disc?" – he whispered so that no one could overhear them.

"I hope you did not believe that I am such a beginner." – Lara smiled back. "Of course I hid it before we were attacked by the soldiers. Therefore, it would be relatively important that you find back to the scene." – she added incidentally.

"Well, this is great. And what would have happened if they had also knocked me out? We would never find it again." – the man said with some discontent in his voice.

"Do not worry, I know what I am doing. Rather think how we could get out of here." – Lara answered back, while she struggled to free herself but was unable to even move.

"No chance, I tried for an hour." – Nate said resignedly. Lara had to admit that he was right, the ropes were stretching too tightly on her skin.

"That was a very fast half an hour." – Lara said as she heard the approaching steps from outside. "Whatever happens, do not tell them anything" – she added quickly, while meeting Nate's eyes. "Genghis Khan is mine!" – she whispered determined. Nate looked back at her in disbelief, he did not expect anything good from Johansson.

Then the door creaked and the man entered with his usual entourage. This time, another man joined them, Lara immediately recognized the swollen nose, which he could thank her.

"I hope you managed to reach the right decision." – Johansson started with his usual broad smile on his face.

"I think the time has not yet expired. Or does the clock turn more quickly around here?" - Lara answered ironically.

"I thought that you were a smart woman and knew exactly what to do." - Johansson replied calmly, while leaning against the table. "Well, then I am waiting for your answer."

"Go to hell!" – Nate exclaimed.

"I could not have said it any better." – Lara shrugged, smiling, as far as her situation permitted.

"I expected something like this." – Johansson said still good-tempered. "I cannot understand why intelligent people always choose the more difficult and more painful way. Olaf!" – he called over to the other man, who was still standing in the background.

Olaf rubbed his hands and stepped forward, grinning. Apparently he found the situation to his liking and looked at Lara with pleasure. But at the end he turned the other way, and with a sudden motion he blew Nate hard in the stomach. He crouched as far as his tied arms allowed, and gasped for air as the man's fist hit him. A few moments later he shook his head and straightened up.

"That's all you got?" – he snorted out although he looked quite worn out. Olaf grinned and his fist met his stomach again causing Nate to start coughing and choking. Lara anxiously watched the events, while hoping that things will not escalate too much. But Nate was silent, his eyes showed determination as he briefly looked up at Lara. Johansson watched the scene from a distance, but had enough experience to be able to assess the situation.

"I think we are trying the wrong thing here. Mr Drake is far too chivalrous to break in front of a woman. The only question is whether he will be so brave if we change the situation a little bit." – Johansson mused aloud. Nate turned his head and looked at him in disgust, as he slowly realized that what he meant. "Now you can still prevent things from happening, you only have to tell me what I need to know." - Johansson added inquiringly. Nate looked at Lara, but he only saw rigid refusal in the woman's eyes. For a few moments a silent dialogue flowed between them, of which Lara came out victorious. Nate finally straightened up and without a word turned his head in the opposite direction, indicating that he would not surrender, although inside him he did not agree with her at all.

Olaf came up in front of Lara and they only stared for a moment looking at each other. The man grinned, as he touched his broken nose, which still ached, Lara just stared ahead. Despite the fact that she knew exactly what would happen, the strength of the blow hit her with such surprise that everything else in front of her faded. Her head swung to the side and she gasped for air. The metallic taste of blood slowly spread in her mouth as her tongue touched her burst lips. From the distance she heard Nate's voice crying out in horror by the brutality of the punch. Lara did not move for a few seconds, then slowly she raised her head. She moved her jaw, as she tried to recover from the hit a drop of blood rolled down from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes radiated such anger that for a moment the grin froze on Olaf's face as well. "You will be very sorry for this, Johansson" – Nate yelled, while anxiously watching the woman.

"Only one word from you and it is all over." – Johansson looked at him scornfully. The whole room was quiet for several minutes, the tension was almost unbearable. Nate looked imploringly at Lara, he did not want her to get hurt. This was just the beginning, if they did not tell him where the disc was, who knew what would be the next. Johansson was a madman. But Lara did not surrender. _He will not do anything to us, he needs us_ - it was written in her eyes. Nate was not at all convinced about this. One of them was indeed needed, but who would be expendable?

"Look, Ms Croft. I think I waited long enough. I am a tolerant man, but my patience has its limits as well." – Johansson said dryly. All friendliness disappeared from his voice, it rang coldly and deliberately. He stepped in front of the woman and a short blade glinted in his hand. Lara's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out his intentions. She started to squirm on the chair, as the knife slowly approached her face. Lara was desperately trying to pull her head away, but it was impossible to do so. The thought that the metal would slash her skin began to scare her. Maybe it was not worth to sacrifice everything for a single tomb, no matter how long she worked for it. The cool blade stroked her face but it still left no trace behind. Lara was even holding her breath back, did not look at Johansson, she did not want him to see the fear in her eyes. The man positioned himself intentionally in a way so that Nate could see everything. Drake started to squirm on his chair, he wanted to break free, he wanted to intervene, but there was no chance. Two armed men even pressed him back onto the chair. Lara hissed, as the knife scratched her skin on one place, and a drop of blood ran down her face.

"ENOUGH!" - Nate cried out because he knew that Lara would be too proud to do so. "Lara does not know anything, I will show you where the disc is if you released her."

Johansson spun and came up to him, leaving Lara behind.

"Nice try, but I do not think you would be in a position to bargain about anything. You take me there or should I continue?" – the man looked at him coldly.

"Okay." - Nate hissed. "I will show you, just leave her alone."

"Very courteous." – Johansson laughed. "I did not expect anything else from you, Mr Drake." – he said sarcastically, as he hurried towards the door. "Be prepared, we will leave soon. Of course, Ms Croft will come with us just to be sure." – he added as he looked back to Nate before leaving.

::::::::::::::::

Lara had just let out the air from her lungs, being hardly aware that she was still holding her breath. She should have been angry with Drake for giving in to Johansson but she knew that there was no other choice. Now she was sure that the man would not have stopped after this little scratch that she felt on her face. She wanted to wipe the dried blood from her skin but her hands were still tied behind her back.

"I am sorry." – Nate said slowly, looking at her.

"No, I am sorry." – Lara replied meekly. "I should not have let it get so far." Lara did not often ask for forgiveness from anyone but she knew that now the man was right. In addition, the disc was not lost yet. They still had a chance but somehow they had to get out of this situation. "But do not worry, I have no intention to give him the disc. At least we won some time with this." – Lara said.

Nate lifted his head and smiled with surprise, how much their brains worked the same way. Since Johansson left the room Nate had been wondering how they could turn the situation to their advantage and escape from this madman. Their eyes met, both having such a determination in them that they forgot about everything else for a moment and smiled, despite the fact that neither of them felt like laughing.

"What is the big plan?" - Lara asked the man.

"I am not so far yet." - Nate replied absently. "We will see along the way, just do what I do, when the time comes."

"This does not sound very promising." - Lara joked with him. But Nate only shrugged.

"You know, there is always a way out, as a very wise man once said." - Drake laughed.

"I am pleased that my guests are having such a good time." - Johansson appeared in the doorway. The blade in his hand glinted again as he walked to Lara but this time he only cut the ropes on her arms and legs. The woman looked at him angrily, as life slowly returned to her limbs. Carefully she rose from her chair and stepped towards Nate. "Not so fast!" - Johansson warned her. "I hope you do not think that you are to be strolling out there freely?" – he looked at them scornfully. Lara and Nate held up their arms resigned so that they could be tied again. A moment later they heard the familiar click of some handcuffs but the second sound was not coming. As they looked down they found in surprise that the situation had become even more awkward than expected.

"That is just bloody fantastic." - Lara exclaimed ironically, slightly raising her right hand, which was handcuffed to Nate's left arm.

"Now go. I do not think I need to show you the way." - Johansson shoved Nate ahead, who accordingly pulled Lara with himself.

:::::::::::::::::

The small team went into the jungle, slowly moving forward. Nate and Lara lead them, carefully moving as it was not easy to advance tied together on the difficult terrain. Two armed men were walking closely behind them, Lara felt that they were feasting their eyes on her. Johansson remained somewhat back with the other soldiers. The temperature did not decrease at all during the day, a few minutes later they were sweating heavily. The picture of the small lake came back to her mind for a moment, Lara sighed wistfully. They had been walking for a while now but there was no chance for an escape. Slowly they had to do something because they were inevitably approaching the spot where they were captured. Nate suddenly became aware of a strange noise, which first only reached his ears from the distance but then came closer and closer. All the soldiers raised their heads as they realized that a helicopter was approaching. Johansson also hesitated for a moment, he did not know what was happening. Nate quickly looked at Lara, their eyes met for a fraction of a second and they already understood each other. By the time Johansson looked back again, the pair had disappeared from his sight.

Lara and Nate ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They did not know where, but now it was not important. They were rushing breathlessly. Nate tripped over a protruding root, almost pulling Lara with him, but in the last minute he managed to remain on his feet. The rustling of the vegetation behind them was growing louder, the soldiers were already dangerously close as they could run much faster not being tied up. Lara snatched her head back while running but she still did not see anything. Suddenly she felt a strong tug on her arm, turned her head forward and her eyes widened in surprise. She could hardly stop at the edge of the cliff, only Nate's arm was holding her back from crashing down. She was desperately trying to regain her balance, leaning slightly forward over the abyss. Nate, however, pulled her back, they halted panting for a moment.

"What now?" - Lara asked trying to catch her breath, as they could not go back now.

"There is no alternative left, we have to jump." - Nate pointed to the roaring river below them. Lara looked at him incredulously. The river was at least eighty feet under them and was rushing at a high speed.

"Are you crazy? We will be crushed." – she looked petrified.

"Do you have a better idea? Either this or Johansson. "- Nate urged her because he already heard the voices of soldiers behind them. Lara hesitated for a moment, but this was their only hope. She took two steps back, then looked at the man.

"Then what are we waiting for?" – she asked although she was still not convinced that this was a good idea.

The gunmen just stepped out of the bush, the first bullets whizzed over their heads. Without thinking they made a running jump right into the depths. The soldiers looked after them in amazement.


	11. Chapter 11

It was a horrible feeling as they crashed into the water, as if they encountered concrete. Despite the fact that they tried to minimize the contact with the surface of the water, they were unprepared for the pain. Both of them went under, all the noise and sounds around them ceased to exist, only the greenish water was to be seen ahead of them. They were immediately caught by the drift, and were helplessly dragged along. Lara kicked herself to the surface, they both surfaced almost at the same time, spitting out the water they swallowed. If possible, in the water it was even harder to get along in the handcuffs. They tried to move together and swim towards the shore. With great difficulty they dragged themselves out of the water crawling to the shore on all fours where they found some empty area. They both flopped down to the ground and just lay on their backs, panting heavily.

"And now what?" - Nate asked without even moving at all. It was already hard enough to breath. The situation had become increasingly impossible. They did not know where they were, they had no weapons, no equipment, were completely soaked and were lying exhausted on the ground.

"We get the disc back, of course." - Lara said confidently. "Just give me one more minute." - she added, panting.

"Admit it that this jump was something." - Nate laughed.

"I always knew that you were crazy." - Lara replied but deep inside she enjoyed it at least as much as Nate. She looked up at the rock from which they jumped, and could not even believe that she did that. Fortunately, the drift did not carry them too far away, they would most likely find the way back. First they had to get rid of the handcuffs, which seemed like an even more complicated undertaking at the moment than anything else. Lara raised her arm, which now seemed even more difficult, as Nate did not try to follow her movement.

"This is not good." - Lara said, as she looked at her hand. "We need to get rid of this, otherwise we will never get up there again." - Lara showed to the rock from which they jumped, this time with the other hand. Nate rose on his elbow on the ground and looked around on the terrain.

"But we do not really have any other choice." – he said simply. "We need to get a gun, and therefore we need to get back to the camp." Nate scratched his head, while he jerked Lara's arm, having forgotten about the cuffs. They looked around one more time hoping to find something but they did not find any other way to approach the high-lying passages. Either they would walk who knows how long along the river, and would have no idea where they were heading, or they would climb back on the wall. The task was not difficult in principle, but neither of them had climbed before tied up so closely with someone else.

"Then, let's get to it, I do not want to wait until it gets dark." - Lara said while sitting up. "We have to move together as practically we cannot back away from each other." - Lara explained as she unlaced her boots, and poured the water out of it.

"But I think it would be a very good idea to wait for the morning. We are both tired, the wet jeans are at least twenty pounds on me, and I do not want that the evening falls on us in the middle of the wall." - Nate replied. "At least the soldiers disappear from the area in the meantime as well."

Lara hated waiting but Nate was not talking non-sense. The sun was already quite low, she could also barely move, although she would have been reluctant to admit this.

"All right. Let them think that we died or gave up." - Lara agreed. "But then we would need to find a place for the night." - she added. They got up from the ground and walked back along the cliff, to the direction they would have had to go anyway. Finally they settled down under a tree where the undergrowth was relatively soft. Lara just wanted to sit down, but Nate held her back.

"If you do not mind, I would like to wrench the water out of my clothes else it will never dry." – he looked at Lara, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Go ahead, I do not want to stand in the way of your comfort." - Lara answered, and politely turned away, as much as she could. She was not wearing thick clothes, they have more or less even dried on her in the meantime. Otherwise, it would have been almost impossible to take off anything due to the cuffs. With great difficulty Nate got rid of his jeans what he unfolded on the ground beside him, then dropped down under the tree. Lara looked at him with slight reprehension as the man again jerked her arm with the movement.

"You could say something what you are planning to do before you rip off my arm." – she growled slightly, and then she sat down in the grass. For some time they were just sitting there silently and watched the sun disappearing under the horizon.

'What are you thinking about?" - the man asked after a while looking at Lara's face. His eyes stopped on the small scratch, which ran under her eyes. As if the woman had felt it, she gently ran her fingers over the wound. For a moment Nate felt the urge to comfort her as Lara just looked silently to herself.

"Nothing." – she finally replied absent-mindedly.

"I know you already well enough to know that something does not leave your mind." - Nate pushed the issue further. Lara smiled slowly, and suddenly she looked right into his eyes.

"Admit it that I could have seduced you that night." - she said unexpectedly.

"Are you still mulling over this since then?" - Nate laughed hearing the question.

"I am not mulling over it." – Lara said with slight resentment. "I just like to clarify things."

"There is only one way to find out." - Nate looked at her maliciously from the corner of his eye. An even wider smile spread on Lara's mouth and she playfully nudged him.

"There is no second chance in life, Nate." - she replied defiantly, as she stretched along the ground. Nate said nothing, only smiled.

:::::::::::

The night passed quite uncomfortable. As one of them moved, the other felt it immediately. Nate was not able to sleep on his back, he was tossing and turning all night. Lara was about to knock him out if she had anything with her that she could have done this with. At dawn, they finally succeeded to fall asleep with great difficulty. Lara was woken up only by the first rays of the sun. She rubbed her eyes and enjoyed the moment of stillness and silence. Thus, so early in the morning the air temperature was still pleasant but she knew that this would change immediately when the sun rose high enough. She felt that the man moved next to her, she stretched her parts.

"I think it is time to start." - Lara said. "I start to get fed up with this night." – she looked at Nate with reprehension.

"Can I still put my pants on?" - the man inquired, trying to pull the dry pair of jeans on him now with much difficulty.

Not much later they were standing at the foot of the wall and looked up examining it. Although there were enough handholds to be found along the way, the task was dangerous in their situation.

"Then let's do it." - Nate said, and took the first step. Lara, having no other choice, followed him. In the beginning they were advancing slowly but fairly smoothly. Every gesture had to be planned so that they both were able to hold onto the wall. Thanks to the continuous physical training Lara was in great shape, she was getting very easily higher and higher. Nate on the other hand was clearly stronger than she was, however, had no problem to keep the pace with the woman. Around the middle of the wall the structure had changed, it became much more unpredictable. It trembled under Lara's hands, then one clinging even collapsed. Nate's feet also remained without any support several times.

"This is really great, it was already all too easy." - Nate said as he paused for a moment to catch his breath. Already half the distance was done, it would have been bad to crash down from there. Lara clung tightly to the wall, trying to gauge how far the top could be still.

"There are only some feet to go and we are there. So far, it was not so terrible." - she said.

"You mean, except that the wall is slowly falling apart under our hands?" – the man began to worry.

"Do not be always so negative." - Lara looked at him. "Come on, I do not want to grow old here."

They began to climb again and almost got to the top without any problems when Nate felt a strong tug on his arm. It all came so sudden that he could hardly keep his balance.

"Damn it!" – it broke out of them almost simultaneously. The stand under Lara's feet collapsed and she lost her grip. She slipped and only the handcuffs were holding her back from crashing down. The metal slashed into their wrists, making their job even more difficult. Nate hissed, as he collected all his strength to hold the woman. Lara tried to get a grip on the wall again as soon as possible, she knew that Nate would not be able to keep them for a long time. She managed to grab the wall with her hands but her legs still had not found any projection. Bigger and bigger stones fell into the depths as she tried to find purchase. Finally, the soles of her boots got stuck in one place, and with difficulty they started upwards again. Nate came up first, and then pulled up Lara. They collapsed to the ground, Nate was touching his strained shoulder, while Lara tried to recover her wrist, into which the cuffs cut firmly.

"I would not say no to a massage now." - he said jokingly.

"Do not look at me now." – Lara wondered. Her skin was scratched at several places and was bleeding slightly. Nate's arm did not look much better.

"Wait a moment." - Nate said calmly, and then tore off the sleeves of his shirt with a powerful gesture and gave one piece of fabric to Lara. With this temporary bandage they felt somewhat less offended by the metal, which still trapped in their wrists. "As much as I like to be so close to you, slowly I would not have anything against it if someone opened this thing." - Nate said, rubbing his arm, which was slowly hurting everywhere.

Suddenly they became aware of movement ahead of them, quickly ensconced to the cover of the plants. An armed man walked a few feet away from them on the path. They looked at each other bewildered, they did not even hope that such a chance would come up so easily. Once they got out of the sight of the soldier, they sneaked behind him softly. The entire action lasted only a few seconds, and the man was lying unconscious in front of their feet. They quickly searched him taking away everything from him that they could use. Nate had taken the pistol and some extra ammo, Lara went through his pockets.

"Turn away, and keep your arm here." - Nate called over to her. "I shoot the cuffs."

"How about this instead?" - Lara waved the small keys with a smile in front of the man's nose, which she rummaged out of the pocket of the soldier. "No need to shoot right away." - she added calmly.

"Well, this is also an option." - Nate shrugged. They were both relieved, as the bracelet was opened up, and finally it fell off their arms.

"Now we just need to get the disc and once again we are back in business." – Lara said enthusiastically.

Slowly they approached the location where they got first trapped, but they were not alone. The soldiers searched through every corner in the area. Johansson was not stupid either, he knew that they had hidden the disc somewhere here.

"If you start shooting, we will very quickly find ourselves back on the chairs." - Lara whispered, as they observed the surroundings from their shelter. She glimpsed the place she was looking for. The disc was lying a few inches under ground at the foot of a very characteristic tree. The soldiers still did not search that part of the forest but they had to be quick if they wanted to outrun them. "What if you tried to divert their attention somehow until I recover the disc?" – she looked at him inquiringly.

"And what were you thinking about? Should I draw crosshairs on me?" - Nate retorted.

"This was working very well before." - Lara said jokingly. "I am sure you come up with something." - she added with a smile. "I need to get there." – she pointed to an area on the right side - "so it would be nice if you could divert them to the other direction." - and Lara had already started down the path.

_Well, that's great_ - Nate thought, while wondering what to do. But there was not much time to meditate, he ran in the opposite direction. With the newly acquired pistol in his hand he looked around and took aim at one of the soldiers who was searching along in the undergrowth. The gun was even louder than expected when he fired off in the silence, birds shoot up from the trees frightened.

From behind the tree she was standing Lara saw that the militants raised their heads after they heard the shot and ran hastily down the path. The woman was only waiting for this, she carefully stepped forward, and crept to her goal. She did not need to search very long, the disc was soon there shining in her hand again. There was one more small black thing lying in the pit, which was essential for Lara. Smiling, she put back the headset into her ear.

"Are you there, Bryce?" – she spoke with enthusiasm into the phone.

"Lara! Good to hear your voice. What happened? "- the man inquired.

"Just the usual, I will tell you later. But now I must go, I think Nate is not in the best position at the moment. We will be in touch." – she quickly added and already started off. Approaching slowly she heard noises in front of her. Two quick kicks and Lara also had a gun, after the two armed guys were lying in the bush. She ran in the direction where Nate was suspected. Meanwhile, an increasing number of shots echoed through the surroundings, Lara was afraid that Nate got into a very difficult situation. She did not like the idea that anything would happen to him because of her. Then she saw the man behind a thick tree, on which bullets were pelting from all over. Lara cautiously crept over to him, and nudged Nate, who winced for a moment. They busted behind a large stone hiding from the shots. Nate glimpsed a sniping gun in Lara's hand.

"Help me up there, and from the top I cover you until you make it over there." - she pointed to a more elevated point. "From there, there are only a few hundred yards to go, and somewhere there must be the entrance."

Nate stood up and propped his back against the rock. With a swing he threw the woman up who set off behind the cover. Nate heard when the first shot was fired, and shortly an armed man sank to the ground in front of him. Cautiously he began to sneak along the path.

Lara scanned the area with the scope, and targeted with deadly accuracy. Nate came forward almost without hindrance, sometimes firing off his gun, or melee-attacking his opponents. Barely in a quarter of an hour he reached the target location. The last bullet left the gun, then the trigger only clicked blank. Lara dropped the useless weapon, and jumped out from behind the dugout. She ran through the woods, slowly approaching the man. When she got there, Nate raised his pistol towards Lara, and fired almost without thinking.


	12. Chapter 12

Lara shuddered to the sudden movement, stopped in the middle of running. The bullet whistled only inches away from her head, she heard someone groan behind her. As she looked back, a soldier fell to the ground directly behind her.

"Thanks." – she said to Nate after she realized that he probably just saved her life again.

"Anytime." – he replied with a smile. He extended his hand towards the woman and pulled her up beside him. They both smiled with satisfaction, they passed through Johansson's men without any harm and even the disc was returned in their possession. At the moment they could not hope for more than that.

"Bryce! Where do we go now? "- Lara asked the man, who followed their trace on his monitor.

"Now the entrance is not far from you anymore." - Bryce said. "Just keep moving west and among the rocks you should find a relatively big plateau. It is not far from there according to the description".

"All right. We are on our way." - she said briefly, and gave a quick sign with her head to Nate, who followed her.

The terrain had become increasingly difficult as they were balancing on the stones. Lara progressed more easily in her thick boots, but Nate was not really prepared for such terrain. In fact, he was not prepared for anything when he was just running away from the shots from his flat in Boston the other day. Since then he was wearing the same white T-shirt, which slowly could hardly been called white anymore. His jeans were torn in several places, and his shoes were not really intended for this terrain. But he did not complain, completely submerged in the research, enthusiastically following Lara, who was climbing the rocks in front of him. Occasionally he looked up and wondered how tough and persistent this woman was. As he recalled the words of Sully, he almost laughed. It seemed like an eternity when he did not want to believe that Lara Croft would be competition for him. It was true that they were not working against each other, it was not meant to be. But he did not mind, it was so much more exciting like this. He admired her stamina. Nate had encountered some tough girls already, but Lara was up to them very easily. And still she had a really great look, just as it was announced by Sully. After a while, Nate shook his head to settle his thoughts, he did not want to think about things at the moment, which would prevent him focusing on the task. Lara pulled herself up to a rock and looked around. She took out the binoculars, which she acquired from one of the soldier on the way and scanned the surrounding area.

"I think we need to get there." – she said pointing forward. Nate followed her fingers and saw a part where the rocks ended in a sharp projection. "We need to climb down there." - the woman said. Being confident that they were right, they carefully set off in that direction. The man stepped up to the ledge and looked down. The grassy plateau stretched not far beneath them. Down there they became aware of big square stones, which lay scattered about, as if being left out from some kind of a construction site.

"I think we are in the right place." - Nate stated joyfully.

"Let's get down there." – Lara said enthusiastically.

Patience was not a virtue of any of them though. They were almost at the bottom of the wall, when they felt the urge to quickly move on. Wanting to get to their destination as soon as possible they jumped down to the ground to gain some time. Lara just turned around to assess the situation, when a strange sensation ran through them. The ground began to tremble under their feet, they were trying to keep their balance in surprise. The ground caved in beneath them with a loud bang, and they both began to fall helplessly. This state did not last long though, their feet soon touch the ground, but this did not end the ordeal, they were unstoppably sliding downhill in a narrow shaft. Total darkness surrounded them, they had no idea where the tunnel ended. It was like getting into a giant slide, their hands tried in vain to grab anything that could have stopped them from falling. After several minutes of winding the tunnel eventually spit them out, they painfully dropped to the floor. Groaning they were rubbing their aching members and spat the dust they swallowed, while turning their heads, wondering where they were. Lara worked her way up from the ground, and turned on the lights, which she also acquired on the way. She looked around curiously. They were standing in a long corridor, of which neither the beginning nor the end could be seen.

"I think we crashed into something like an air shaft. Probably this is not the actual entrance, but perhaps it will also do for us." – she said to Nate.

"There are not many other choices. I do not think that we could get out this way again." - he said absently looking back at the steep passage, where they spilt out from. "At least this is not a trap." - he added quickly.

"Do not jump to a conclusion." - Lara said absently. "Things are never as simple as they appear to be."

Lara saw a torch on the wall, as she lit up the rest of the corridor, additional pieces were discovered.

"Maybe it will be easier if there is some light." - she said and stepped up to the torch. From her boots she pulled out a lighter. It was fortunate that this place was almost always forgotten, if someone searched her. She held the small flame to the end of the wooden torch, the light was flickering ghostly in the air. As the flames flared up, they became aware that the fire somehow spread inside the wall, and all the torches along the corridor lit up in a row. Lara admired this ancient ingenuity. It was unbelievable what solutions these people could invent with these old methods. Behind them, however, some strange noise struck their ears, which sounded rather alarmingly. At regular intervals they heard a loud rustling in the distance, which was coming nearer. For a moment they stood motionless, until they saw what the source of the noise was. About every twenty feet a heavy grate fell under from the ceiling, which completely sealed the corridor. Lighting the torches must have triggered the trap. Their look met for a fraction of a second, then Nate shouted.

"Run, otherwise we will never get out of here!" – they span around and ran at full extent inside the corridor. If the grid closed ahead of them, there would be no way out. Lara looked up over her head while running, there were at least ten similar grids ahead of them on the corridor ceiling. The noise came closer and closer, but neither of them dared to look back. Every second could have changed everything. Lara almost felt the breeze on the back of her neck that was caused by the crashing bars, which fell only inches behind them. There was only one more structure located in front of them, Nate saw that the grid already began to tremble, which was a sure sign that it would fall within seconds, blocking their way. Both of them threw themselves on the ground and in the last second they slid through the small opening. With a loud metallic clang it closed behind them, Nate still felt that it scratched his skin slightly. It was the umpteenth time that they were lying on the floor, panting from the strain, but still excited from the adrenaline rushing in their veins.

"That was close." – Nate concluded trying to catch his breath.

"You really cannot say that I brought you to a boring place." - Lara laughed.

"Did I complain?" - Nate grinned with relief.

"Although I am a bit worried if this is just a vent shaft, what will expect us in there." - Lara said jokingly, as she got up to look around where they were. Carefully glancing around they were advancing slowly. The corridor led to a triple junction, all three ways seemed completely identical, Lara did not see anything where they were leading. Suddenly human voice from the distance caught Nate's ears. The man grabbed Lara's arm, and pulled her back behind him, pushing her against the wall just like in the alley when they first met Johansson's men. The woman looked at him incredulously, but she said nothing, because she heard the voices as well.

"It seems that Johansson had found the entrance too." - Nate whispered softly. Two soldiers approached them in the right corridor, Lara and Nate flat against the wall and waited for them to get closer. At the junction the two armed men hesitated briefly, then slowly walked into the middle passage. It was less than ten seconds, when Lara heard a painful cry. As she snatched her head there, she just saw a huge trap spearing the mercenaries that sprang open. The lifeless bodies were clinging to the bloody spikes.

"I think we do not go in that direction." - Nate said frowning. "We only have two options left."

"I guess it does not make sense to go to where they came from, so the left corridor is the only one left." - Lara was thinking out loud.

"I agree." - Nate said assent, and they went to the specified direction. Highly focused, they had vividly seen the previous scene in front of them, they did not want to be served with the same sauce as the soldiers. The corridor had become increasingly narrower, they were barely able to move upright.

"I do not know whether this is a good sign." – Nate said anxiously. Lara lit into the passage, but had not yet seen the end of it. After a short time the usual gap stretched in front of them, with sharp spears sticking from the bottom. But neither of them had any problems to climb over it on the wall. The corridor eventually ended in a small room, where they saw a weird structure on the opposite wall. One could have thought that it was a safe, if they had not known that this was impossible. Lara stepped closer, and carefully examined the circular hole in the middle. The fingers gently stroked over the beautifully polished stones, fumbled the signs that were carved in by skilled hands. She knew exactly what to do, this puzzle did not cause any problems for Nate either. She reached into her newly-acquired bag and drew the disc out of it. Lara clearly remembered the signs, she had seen the same ones on the object in her hands so many times before. She gently inserted the disc into the slot, it fit perfectly. Genghis Khan's sign was located at the top of the wall, the woman turned the sign on the disc to the same position. A faint clicking sound gave it away that their theory did not fail them. The pattern was similar, as in Chagatai's tomb. The rock wall quivered, a crack appeared in the middle of it, and finally it parted in front of them just like a gate.

"Really very impressing." - she heard the familiar mocking tone behind them, accompanied by a metallic clicking sound. Lara cursed inside, while they both held up their hands, as they turned around. Johansson was standing opposite them, smiling, with Olaf grinning on his side. "I knew you would not disappoint me." - the man said with pleasure in his voice. Lara was furious with herself that they acted so entirely careless, they concentrated completely on the gate, did not even notice that someone crept up behind them. Yet she knew that their opponent also managed to get into the grave in the meantime.

"Come on, let's bring this behind us. I think we can take it over from here." - Johansson commanded and Olaf started slowly towards them.

"And where are the rest of your bloodhounds?" - Nate asked sarcastically.

"Unfortunately accessing the tomb overtook more victims than I thought." - Johansson replied absently, while he did not take his eyes off the couple. "Move away from the gate!" – he commanded them, as Olaf approached. The big man snarled angrily at Lara, the swelling on his nose had switched to blue in the meantime. The woman, however, did not plan to give in so easily this time, she suddenly kicked him in the stomach, Olaf staggered back in surprise. Nate responded immediately, and threw himself to the sides before Johansson's shot would have struck him. With a dynamic move he leapt over to Johansson, and grabbed his arm, in which the weapon was. Within a short time a bitter duel developed. Nate wrestled with Johansson, Lara tried to subdue Olaf. He was much bigger than she, but Lara used her speed against him, with a sudden movement she hit him in the face, Olaf cried out painfully as he touched his nose, which began to bleed again. Almost blindly he punched in the air, which Lara easily evaded. Jumping to the side she kicked him in the knee, causing Olaf's legs to collapse, and with a loud thump he fell on his knees.

"You are not such a big guy if my hands are not tied, huh?" - Lara snapped sarcastically, scornfully looking at the man who was hardly at his senses. "And this is for the punch." - she added, smiling, and her heavy boot slammed into the man's face, who dropped down unconscious to the ground.

Lara quickly turned around and saw Nate, who lay on the ground, and was savagely beaten by Johansson. The gun was lying next to them a few feet away. Lara quickly ran over and grabbed it.

"Hands up!" – she shouted at the man, whose arm stopped in the air in mid-gesture, when he heard that Lara secured the gun. He slowly rose and moved away from Nate, who glared back at him, on the right side of his face a bloody bruise ran down.

"Our ways are parting here. It has been a pleasure to meet you." - Nate said coldly and he hit the man with such force that he fell back and sprawled limply on the ground. Lara looked at him impressed.

"I think that they will no longer disturb us." - Lara said delighted. Nate wiped off the blood from his face with the back of his hand and walked over to her.

"Are you okay?" – he asked her incidentally.

"Better than they are." – Lara said looking down on the two men on the ground. "This Olaf is only strong when the opponent is easy." - she added with a laugh. She approached the man and bent down to him. "I think these are mine." – she said while getting back her two pistols, which Olaf took from her while searching her in the jungle. Satisfied they were reinstated in the holsters on her two sides. "This was taken from you if I am not mistaken." – she gave the small medallion on the thin chain to Nate that she pulled out of Olaf's pocket. Nate took it and hung it around his neck. Angrily he kicked the man in the side again, then turned around and walked away from him.

"Shall we see what is behind the gate?" – he looked inquiringly at Lara, who smiled and then walked towards him. With a quick motion she took the disc from its place and put it back in her bag. They were about to cross the stone gate and continue their way inside, when a desperate cry echoed behind them.

"Drake!" - Johansson shouted, as he raised to his feet, and took the gun, which lay in the dust beside him. The whole thing took place in an instant, as if everything had slowed down. Nate spun in a fraction of a second and pointed the weapon at him, which he held. With almost the same move he also pulled the trigger. The bullet started off smoking, hissing through the air. The only thing they saw was that Johansson snapped at his stomach and rounded his eyes in astonishment. It was as though he could not believe that the shot hit him. Slowly blood poached from between his fingers, then from the corner of his mouth. He fell to his knees, his face in amazement, as though he had been convinced that he was invulnerable. His eyes momentarily entangled with Nate's, and then fell back, and did not move anymore. Nate was still watching him for a while, and then, without any compassion turned and looked at Lara.

"I think now he will really not going to disturb anymore." - he said. She just shrugged and they walked down the corridor to solve the puzzle, which was waiting for centuries for someone to come and find it.


	13. Chapter 13

The corridor in front of them was wrapped in total darkness, the air was heavy and musty, cobwebs hung everywhere. Nate stepped into the blackness, as Lara illuminated the walls in front of him. The stones were almost completely polished on the two sides, but nothing embellished them. They progressed literally step by step, not knowing what awaited them. So far, they had encountered quite a few unpleasant surprises in the last few days. Now that they managed to get rid of their opponents, they no longer wanted to run into some trap. They both felt that the success now was within reach. Lara was pervaded by the familiar tingling but she had to be careful. In the past imprudence had brought them in a very dangerous situation when they crashed into the air-shaft. The silence almost vibrated around them, only the faint noise of their footsteps could be heard on the dusty floor. Lara's hand instinctively slid to the hilt of her gun, her eyes scanned the walls. The whole situation had proved to be suspiciously simple, no traps, no barriers. Although as she recollected, their way in Chagatai's grave also proved to be fairly simple after having managed to survive the watery adventure. Could it be that they were so lucky again? Lara did not believe in it and as it seemed Nate did not either, he was getting forward at least as carefully as Lara herself. Nearly a quarter hour passed, while they barely advanced five hundred yards. But Lara loved this feeling, as the unpredictability surrounded her, the risk that something unexpected could happen anytime. She would not want to be anywhere else at that moment. Finally, the light collided with a smooth stone wall, a closed entrance, which was barely higher than they were. After examining the surroundings, they discovered a lever near the door. Nate looked doubtfully at Lara.

"I find this suspicious." - he said. "It cannot be that simple."

"I think we can only know if we try it." - Lara replied thoughtfully. Her eyes frantically searched for any sign, from which she could have concluded that some danger was lurking after them but did not discover anything. Slowly she shrugged. "The possibility is all yours." – she smiled at Nate. The man stepped closer and put both his hands on the end of the lever. He hesitated for a moment, then gathered his strength and moved his stick. For the first time it hardly moved but then it started slowly and accompanied by a loud creaking it went down. They both looked around expectantly, ready for the worst, but nothing happened for several seconds. Almost at once they turned their heads towards the entrance, which opened with a slight tremor. Their weapons were trained into the nothing, which opened up in front of their eyes. Inside the same darkness awaited them, they had also experienced out there. The passage ended after a few yards in front of them, it was actually a T junction. They looked at each other and slowly entered the room.

The choice was to go right or left. Lara was just wondering what would be the right decision when something happened again. As they entered the door and the body weight pressed on the stone plate on the other side of the entrance, something moved. The gate behind them fell back with a loud rumble, blocking the way out, and another loud crash assailed their ears from the right. Suddenly they could not imagine what this may have been and how to react on it but they had to decide quickly. The deafening noise came closer and closer, like a giant roller approached them. It was not even far from reality, in the light of the lamp a huge stone cylinder appeared, which was rolling dangerously towards them. It cordoned off the entire width of the corridor, greatly simplifying the decisions to which direction to run. Without hesitation they fled before the cylinder would have run over them. They could only hope that another trap would not await them in the dark. Lara had a bad feeling but she did not have time to look around. They were running for about two minutes without stopping but the cylinder had not slowed, there was no possibility of escape.

"I really do not like this." - Lara screamed gasping so that her words would reach out to Nate through the noise. Then they saw the door on which they originally entered.

"We are running in circles!" - Nate was taken aback when he realized what was happening. "We have to find something else we can rush here forever until we drop down dead." - he shouted, though he knew that Lara was aware of the situation as well. On the walls around them there was not the slightest grip to be discovered as they scanned them hurriedly with their lamps while running. The situation seemed hopeless. _Each trap has a way out_ - Lara assured herself, when something caught her eyes high on the wall. First, she thought she was just imagining it. She paused for a moment, and again directed her lamp in that direction. The cylinder was not rolling so quickly, she could stop for a short period of time. A large red circle with gold trim at the edges could be seen. The wheel, however, was dangerously close again forcing her to run again.

"There is something." – she said to Nate. "Hurry up, so that we have a little time to look at it when we get there again." – she proposed, and then gathering all her energies, began to run even faster. Nate watched her with amazement, how she was able to do all this, then he followed her. Suddenly Lara came to a halt again when she saw the circle, Nate almost crashed into her. The spot was located high on the wall, but it was the only inappropriate thing they had noticed.

"Now what?" – Nate asked panting, supporting his arms on his knees.

"I only have one idea." - Lara dishevelled, grabbed her gun and targeted. The first shot struck the point in the middle, but it did not induce any effect. Meanwhile, their chaser approached steadily. "Start shooting at it!" – she cried over to Nate, who seized his pistol and they began to shoot at the same time. As less and less time was left before the cylinder would have forced them to run again, they were slowly retreating. As the bullets bounced from the red surface, the switch slowly moved, and then suddenly there was dead silence around them. The cylinder almost magically stopped and the whole structure was overcast by light. Squinting after the darkness, they were looking around wondering what had happened.

"Impressing." - Nate said approvingly. "Not bad from hundreds of years old guys."

Torches lit up all over their heads, for the first time they had the opportunity to examine their surroundings as they walked slowly around the passage. The door still remained closed, they saw no other way out at the walls. The corridor was about five yards wide, the walls rose high on both sides. They walked around wondering.

"There!" - Lara showed up suddenly as her eyes caught sight of a ladder, which launched yards over their heads.

"And how the hell do we get up there?" - Nate scratched his head doubtfully. "That is impossible." – he stated resignedly. However, Lara did not share his opinion, strolled up and down deep in thoughts, surveying all the possibilities.

"There must be a solution, I am sure that the exit is up there." – she was thinking out loud but did not notice anything else on the outer wall. They both stared fixedly up until their necks started to hurt. Nate ambled further down the corridor, half-resignedly, until he disappeared from Lara's sight. She only heard his pacing from the distances but did not really deal with it, she wanted to solve the problem.

"What do you think about this?" – she heard Nate's voice from the distance after a while. She turned around and walked over to him to see what he found.

"Not bad." - Lara found as she looked up at Nate's discovery. A thin flight of stairs was running around the inner wall, which led up completely to the top of the middle section. The only problem was that this began high above their heads as well, there was no chance to reach them. "At least this is lower than the ladder." - Lara said enthusiastically.

"But not low enough." - Nate replied ironically, and then with a slight disappointment he kicked in the cylinder, which was standing not far away beside them.

"Wait a moment!" - Lara exclaimed. "We could climb up on this." – she said smiling, looking at the roller. "It just needs to be pushed closer a little bit, then we can reach the bottom of the stairs from the top of it."

Nate stepped back and thought about the idea.

"Maybe you are right." – he stated with more and more enthusiasm. "Let's try!" - he said, and they both started to run to reach the other side of the cylinder. They pulled their weight against it but the stone hardly moved. After gathering all their strength, they felt that the severe weight slowly stirred.

"I think this will do." - Lara said as she caught her breath for a moment.

"Come on, I boost you up there." - Nate stood there at the bottom of the cylinder and made a back for Lara. A few seconds later, the woman was already balancing on the convex surface. She stretched her arm down to him and pulled the man up beside herself. Carefully walking out to the edge, Nate jumped off and caught the bottom edge of the stairs. Lara followed, and soon both of them were standing on the first step. The stairs were so thin, however, that they could only advance keeping close to the wall. Often their feet slipped off on the worn-out stones. Finally, they pulled up to the top of the wall, and watched the spectacle with amazement, which revealed in front of their eyes. The whole interior served as a huge cistern, which was filled with water to the brim.

"What is this?" - Nate asked, surprised. "We are not going to die of thirst." - he added jokingly. Lara rolled her eyes as she looked at him disapprovingly. The whole thing looked very strange, she did not know what to do with what she saw. Water? How could this be used? Thoughts were racing in her head, until Nate's voice broke her out of the meditation.

"I'll be back." - the man said, and plunged into the water. After quickly swimming over to the opposite wall, he submerged. Lara saw that he was fiddling about something at the pool wall, then ascended to the surface again snorting.

"I need your help, it does not move." – he shouted over to Lara, who dived into the pool without a second thought. They submerged, Lara remembered the stack for a moment, where she almost drowned but she quickly dismissed the memories. The legs propped up against the wall they pulled their weight against the lever, and both dragged it, as they could. They plunged to the surface waiting to see what happens. Suddenly a smaller maelstrom evolved in the middle, and the water level began to decline rapidly. It was as if someone had pulled the plug. As they sank deeper and deeper, they noticed that several gaps opened up on the inner wall and the water poured out unstoppable to the passage.

"Now everything is clear." - Lara said with relief. "Of course, this is the way we will reach the ladder." - she added with a smile.

"Come on!" - Nate looked at her eagerly, and dived to swim out to the corridor through one of the openings. Lara followed not far behind. The water level was compensated in the two parts, the bottom of the ladder was now within reach as they trampled the water beneath it.

"Ladies first." - Nate offered politely. Lara looked briefly at him, then pulled herself up to the bottom of the ladder and began to climb upwards. Nate followed with delight. Upstairs another hallway awaited them but it had proved to be completely harmless. After a few yards a similar room was found as before, where Johansson surprised them. The same structure was located on the wall, they had seen before, with the circular recess in the middle.

"This looks familiar." - Lara smiled as she took the disc from her bag. She inserted it into the slot and rotated it to the right direction. But this time nothing happened at all. Both of them looked surprised to themselves.

"But this is new." - Nate said sarcastically. "Are you sure you turned it to the right place?" - he asked doubtfully.

"What do you think?" - Lara asked back impatiently. "It is the same sign as before. I do not understand why it does not work."

Nate stepped closer to the gate and examined the disc. Just for trying he turned it in both directions but reached nothing. Lara also bent down and looked at the lock from all directions but nothing came to her mind. Time just passed but they did not get any closer to the solution. At the end Nate had even attempted to burst the gate open, of course without success. The disturbing thought that they got stuck just a step away from their goal did not leave mind Lara's mind. She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground, tipping her head against it. Wringing her fingers nervously in front of her she was trying to concentrate. Nate came up to her and plopped down next to her in the dust. Feeling used up they only looked to themselves.

"I cannot believe that he beats me again. After all this time, again and again." - Lara lamented, as she rubbed her temples with her fingers wearily. She stretched out her legs in front of her.

"We have come quite far." - Nate stated softly.

"Just not far enough." - Lara replied resignedly. The flashlight in her hand began to blink slightly, as if it started to run out of battery. "Now even this." - she added frustrated, as she started to tap the plastic cover. The light then accidentally fell on the parts above the entrance where some weird things caught Lara's eyes. She directed the lamp there again. She saw something that she had experienced nowhere in the grave so far. The walls were decorated with drawings high above their heads in the dark. Tiny figures stood out in front of them as they were showed closing the entrance of the tomb. One of them held up the disc, and then handed it over to another guy who was most probably Chagatai. So far the drawings showed nothing new, on the following picture, however, another object appeared, that for the first time Lara could not make out exactly. She got out the binoculars and looked at it more accurately.

"What do you see?" - Nate asked impatiently.

"That is what I would also like to know." - Lara replied softly, with the gadget in front of her eyes still. A small figure raised something above his head, then on the next drawing he handed it over to the Khan's son. It looked like something like a thin rope. "Damn it." - Lara suddenly exclaimed. She jumped up and ran over to the disc. Now for the first time she noticed that a thin gap stretched over the middle of it. The hole was no more than half an inch wide and only a few millimetres thin. Immediately she knew it ... the small metal plate, which she had repeatedly seen in Nate's hands.

"Where do you have the medal round your neck from?" – she suddenly fired off the question at him and I reached out for it but Nate grabbed her hand halfway.

"What are you talking about?" - he asked in surprise.

"Tell me now!" - Lara could not restrain herself.

"I found it the other day in the grave and I liked it." - Nate said quietly as he watched the woman becoming more and more excited in front of his eyes.

"Give it to me!" - Lara commanded him without any explanation.

"If you ask so nicely." - Nate remarked ironically, and then slowly took off the chain from his neck.

"Sorry." - Lara smiled and grabbed it before his hands had even reached the end of the movement. She turned around and with the pendant in her hand she approached the lock. Slowly she raised it to the small gap and then paused for a moment, as if being afraid that it would not fit and her last chance would dissolve in thin air. Although deep inside she knew, or at least hoped very much, that she was right. After pushing in the plate it disappeared in the hole with a sudden gesture, as though something had sucked it in. They both looked amazed. Finally, the familiar shaking started and the gate opened up. Lara lit the torch, which was located directly on the wall at the entrance. The flames flared up, and then as usual, it spread across the room, revealing the most incredible scenery in front of them that they had ever been part of. As long as the eyes could see, treasures were piled everywhere, statues, weapons and things one could not even imagine. With an astonished face they walked inside, they could not stop wondering about all this beauty.

"This is what I call treasure." - Nate laughed, and instinctively pulled Lara to him, lifting her up and whirling her around with joy. The woman laughed out, for a moment neither of them cared what was happening. This was their greatest discovery, and they wanted to enjoy every moment of it.

::::::::::::::

**2 weeks later, Croft Manor**

Lara was lying on the sofa in her study stretching her long legs all over it, just like a couple of weeks ago. But this time she was far from being bored. The events had accelerated, there were still a lot of things to organise, a lot of work awaited her. The discovery of the grave was only the first step in a long process, which was now under way. Lara was leaning back in satisfaction as she was thinking about the recent events. She almost laughed out loud when she thought of the many incredible adventures. Her thoughts were whirling around Drake when she heard a faint knock on the door, and then shortly afterwards Hilary entered with a tray in his hand, on which a big, thick envelope was lying.

"This just arrived for you, Lady Croft." – the butler handed the letter over to her.

"Thank you, Hilary." - Lara took the envelope from him. She was watching the handwritten addressing with interest but found no sender on it. Using the paper knife that Hilary wisely placed on the try, she opened the envelope. Inside there was a newspaper lying, the next day's issue of the New York Times that had not been published yet. On the front page of it her name was reading in huge letters:

LARA CROFT FINDS THE TOMB OF GENGHIS KAHN!

FANTASTIC FINDING – THE DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY!

Her eyes ran down the article, reading the gist of it. As she turned some pages in the newspaper, a handwritten message fell out of it.

_As you can see, the glory is all yours, as you wanted. __I hope you are happy, I enjoyed every minute. N.D._

A satisfied smile crossed her face as she read it, looking mused to herself. A few seconds later she put down the newspaper, stood up from the couch and started towards the door, while the afternoon sunlight glinted on the sophisticated golden sword of Genghis Khan, which adorned the top of the fireplace. As she passed him, Hilary thought that whatever was standing in that message, Lara had not looked so happy for a long time.

* * *

**It's hard to believe but this story has also come to an end. I have to say that I enjoyed writing this very much, I think Lara and Nate just come along fine together! **

**I really appreciate your reviews, thanks to:**

**NeoKyo2k3, Arthemida and Najel for the continuous comments and of course once again to Lara Anne for the beta-reading! Thanks to everyone else for reading and I hope you had fun. Remember, it's never too late to let me know your opinion, reviews are welcome in the future as well.**

**I'm already collecting ideas for the sequel, I really think that Lara and Nate need to work together in the future again. Let me know what you think!**

**And in the meantime get ready for some a new adventure with Simon, the continuation of my first story that will be published in the near future!  
**


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